San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage Press Release

The “San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage” collection is now available online to Kern County residents. The Kern County Library is one of nine Central Valley public library systems that have joined together in order to create an amazing panorama of California history. Over 2,700 historical images of the Central Valley have been digitized in an unprecedented two-year project that brings HISTORY to life with the click of a “mouse.”

Diane Duquette, Director of Libraries for Kern County, announced today that over 400 of the photographs in the Heritage collection chronicles life in Kern County over the past 120 years. Included in the Kern County section are rare photos taken in the 1880’s by Carleton Watkins, the eminent 19th century photographer. There are also dramatic photos of Bakersfield, Arvin and Tehachapi that were taken shortly after the 1951 earthquakes as well as colorful postcard photos of Bakersfield street scenes from the 1920’s and 1930’s.

These and many more photographs can be viewed at theSan Joaquin Valley and Sierra Foothills Photo Heritagewebsite. The collection can also be accessed from the Kern County Library homepage www.kerncountylibrary.org via Web Links, which are listed under Internet Resources.

This project was made possible with funding from the federal Library Services and Technology Act administered by the California State Library.