The Sacramento Room

The Sacramento Public Library Central Branch features a gorgeous, wood and book-lined room that library and history lovers will salivate upon first entering. Sign-in immediately, or you will be reminded by the ever vigilant research librarians. Just about anything related to Sacramento's history is archived here, and it is all kept in pristine condition. They even have high school yearbooks! Friendly and exceedingly helpful staff.Bits of advice: 1) Write ahead to let them know what you are researching and when you are coming. They will pull relevant material for you; 2) take public transportation or Uber there, as parking is hard to come by and public lots are expensive (cost us about $15.00 a day to park in a building a couple of blocks away), 3) read their full list of dos and don'ts before coming, which is available on their web-site; 4) photocopies are 25 cents per page, payable in cash, and they photocopy for you; and 5) note they do not have hours in sync with the actual library.

Go up to the second floor of the Central Library, through a glass door onto a balcony overlooking the Galleria, turn left and enter a place unlike any other area of the library. The Sacramento Room is a quiet, climate-controlled, elegantly-appointed research facility that's open to the public. It's a treasure.I'd stopped in a few times, years ago, just to look around. It's slightly intimidating at first - you have to sign the guest book and leave your backpack/purse in a locker. All you can carry is a pencil and paper. But it's okay; you're free to look around. Display cases in the walls hold valuable old manuscripts and historic documents, the walls feature art by notable local artists Wayne Thiebaud and Greg Kondos, and the stacks contain hundreds of rare titles pertaining to Sacramento and California history. The room is beautiful, with rich wood tables, comfortable chairs, good lighting and soaring windows. Every time I visited, I wished I had a reason to be there - a research project, a question, something!Today I went to the Sacramento Room with a purpose. In the seven years since I bought my house, I've wondered about its history as well as the history of my neighborhood. I asked the friendly librarian, Tom, one question: "Do you have any information about developer Jere Strizek, who built Town & Country Village and the neighborhoods nearby?" To my amazement, he brought out two boxes of 60-year-old letters, photos, newspaper clippings and magazine articles about my neighborhood. I viewed 8x10 glossies of model rooms that could've been shot in my very own house. I held the blueprints for my house and learned that it was named "The Town & Country Modern Personality Home." It was a treat to learn about the beginnings of my house and neighborhood, right from the original source material. I realized I was perusing the archives of the architect who designed my house. It had been donated to the Sacramento Room by his daughter. (Thank you, ma'am!)Tom graciously made a stack of photocopies for me (reasonably priced!) and I left with more information than I ever dreamed I'd find. I know local historians Steven Avella and William Burg have used the Sacramento Room while researching their books, and now I understand why. It's a fabulous resource full of unexpected and wonderful material. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about Sacramento, even if it's something as mundane as the history of a little ranch house - make that a Modern Personality Home! - in the suburbs.