San Diego Yesterday

Father’s Day is on the way and here’s a quick history fix for Dad.  The books are available from AMAZON and local bookstores. Each book has 38 stories originally published in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Topics include San Diego people, the military, schools, water, sports, crime, scandal, and more–all illustrated with historic photographs.

Save the date. On Monday, November 14, I’ll be at the Point Loma/Hervey branch of the Public Library to share some great stories and photos from my books San Diego Yesterday and The Way We Were in San Diego.

Ever been here? If love you local history, genealogy, or rare books, this the place. Here’s a 30 minute tour. But consider it just a preview. Then come visit us on the 9th floor of the Central Library.

Much of what we know about San Diego’s first decade as an American town is found in the files of our first newspaper, the San Diego Herald. Original copies of the Herald are exceedingly rare but a complete file is preserved in Special Collections at the San Diego Public Library. We owe that complete file to the foresight of Ephraim W. Morse, who preserved a whole run and sold it to the library for $100 in 1901. The letter below documents that important transaction. The library’s run of the Herald was microfilmed many years ago and can be viewed at the San Diego Central Library. The newspaper has also been digitized and is available for research at the Internet site of the California Digital Newspaper Collection: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/

Eyewitness accounts of early San Diego are a treasure. The 1872 diary of J. A. Shepherd, the quiet bookkeeper of city founder Alonzo E. Horton, provides a fascinating first-hand look at “poor, isolated San Diego,” as the young town struggled to find success in its obscure corner of the United States.

On Friday afternoon, May 17, I’ll be at the San Carlos Branch Library for an illustrated lecture on the history of the San Diego Public Library. Join us at 2:00. Here’s a flyer for the talk:

Here’s a quick stocking idea that’s in stock at Barnes & Noble, or just a click away on AMAZON. Each book has 38 stories originally published in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Topics include San Diego people, the military, schools, water, sports, crime, scandal, and more–all illustrated with historic photographs. Both books contain a complete index and a helpful bibliography.

Back in July 2017, I did a talk on San Diego founder Alonzo Horton for the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation. Attached here is the video recording of that lecture. Audio is sometimes iffy but overall, a nice production done by Bill Keller, a docent at the Gaslamp Foundation.