Teaching Collection: California’s Industrial Transformation—Snapshots 1860–1939

This collection of primary sources offers a look at what life was like for diverse groups of people during a transformative period of California history.

Introduction

Completion of the transcontinental railroad in the late 19th century facilitated the growth of budding industries that shaped California history, bringing in new waves of immigrants and migrants from diverse cultures along with new businesses and fresh ideas. California seemed like a golden land of opportunity, inspiring dreams of sunny days perfumed by orange blossoms—an ideal that would persist. While opportunities for wealth did exist, so too did many challenges for both newcomers and people already living on the land.

These primary sources offer a snapshot of life in California during this transformative period, after California became the 31st state and before the onset of World War II in 1939.

Guiding Questions

How did new industries that emerged after completion of the transcontinental railroad change the lives of varied communities in California?
How did industrial growth in California at this time create opportunities and challenges for diverse groups? How might those experiences have differed depending on the group?
How did national current events from this time affect different communities in California?

How To Use This Resource

This resource contains a collection of high-quality images of primary sources from 1876 to 1938, organized chronologically. The collection prompts students to think about California’s rapid industrialization from different perspectives, allowing them to imagine what life was like for diverse groups of people and compare and contrast it with life in California today.

At the bottom of each primary source, you’ll find vocabulary words, project ideas, and prompts for students that can be adapted for grade levels from third grade through high school. Relevant California state standards in social science, art, and science, with additional collection-wide project ideas, are at the end.

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Collection-Wide Project Ideas and Prompts

Tell a Story

Select a primary source from the Teaching Collection to make observations and ask questions.
- Make a list of everything you see in the image. When you think your list is done, try to find five new things to add. Compare your list with a partner.
- Create a list of questions you have about the image.
Research the image. Start by using the link. Then use a library or conduct an internet search. Can you find answers to any of your questions?
Create a story about the image using your list of observations, questions, and research. What happened before, during, and after the moment captured in the image? Write, draw panels like a comic book, or record yourself telling the story.

Find the Technology

Create a list of all the technologies shown in the images of primary sources (such as cars and conveyor belts). Now add technology not depicted but that was used to create the primary source or was important to the industry being depicted (such as film or hydropower).
Compare past and present technologies.
- Did your list include technologies still used today? Is the technology the same or has it changed?
- What are the top technologies in California today? How do they impact California’s economy and society? Use research to help contextualize your response.
Research one of the technologies featured on your list.
- Was this technology part of the industrialization of the late 19th century or did it come earlier?
- Why was the technology created? Where was it designed? Who invented it?
- How did this technology transform California’s economy and society? Is it still used today?
- Write about your findings or make a model to demonstrate how the technology works.

Research Your Neighborhood

Find photos and maps of your community from early California history.
- Use The Huntington’s collections online research tool as a starting point.
- Compare and contrast with how the map looks today. What is similar? What is different?
Research your community.
- List the historic monuments or locations in your community, such as parks, streets, or areas named after a particular individual.
- What are some important social, economic, and natural factors that impacted the area’s development?
- Create a timeline that highlights the key phases of your community’s history.
- Create a model of your community, draw a map of the area, and/or write about your findings.
Imagine what you think your neighborhood will look like in 100 years. Create a model, draw a picture, or write about your ideas.

Standards

California History–Social Science Standards

1.2 Students compare and contrast the absolute and relative locations of places and people and describe the physical and/or human characteristics of places.
1.4 Students compare and contrast everyday life in different times and places around the world and recognize that some aspects of people, places, and things change over time while others stay the same.
2.1 Students differentiate between things that happened long ago and things that happened yesterday.
2.2 Students demonstrate map skills by describing the absolute and relative locations of people, places, and environments.
3.1 Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.
3.2 Students describe the American Indian nations in their local region long ago and in the recent past.
3.3 Students draw from historical and community resources to organize the sequence of local historical events and describe how each period of settlement left its mark on the land.
3.5 Students demonstrate basic economic reasoning skills and an understanding of the economy of the local region.
4.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California.
4.4 Students explain how California became an agricultural and industrial power, tracing the transformation of the California economy and its political and cultural development since the 1850s.
8.12 Students analyze the transformation of the American economy and the changing social and political conditions in the United States in response to the Industrial Revolution.
10.3 Students analyze the effects of the Industrial Revolution in England, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States.
11.2 Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large-scale rural-to-urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.

ELA Standards

Writing–Research to Build and Present Knowledge

W.3.7 / W.4.7 Conduct short research projects.
W.3.8 / W.4.8 Recall and gather information from sources.
WHST.9-10.7 / WHST.11-12.7 Conduct short research projects.
WHST.9-10.8 / WHST.11-12.8 Recall and gather information from sources.

California Arts Anchor Standards–Visual Arts

Creating - Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work
Responding – Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work
Connecting – Anchor Standard 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding

Teaching Collection: California’s Industrial Transformation—Snapshots 1860–1939

On this page

Introduction

Guiding Questions

How To Use This Resource

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Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

Rounding Cape Horn. / C.P.R.R.

Chinese emigration to America: sketch on board the steam-ship Alaska, bound for San Francisco

April 29, 1876. San Francisco, California

The unique map of California

Approximately 1888

California Citrus Box Label: California Brand

1890-1900

U. S. Indian Day School, Soboba

Approximately 1915, Soboba Indian Reservation, Riverside County

Universal City. Entrance to the “City of Wonders.”

Approximately 1915, Universal City, California

Big Creek Huntington Lake Dams

1917. Big Creek, Fresno County, California

“Hoover Town”, Los Angeles, March 18, 1932

1932. Hoover Town, Los Angeles, California

Orange packers, San Fernando Heights Citrus Packing House, Los Angeles County. 1938

San Fernando, Los Angeles County, California

Collection-Wide Project Ideas and Prompts

Standards

Authors, Contributors, and Reviewers

Related Content

Teaching Collection: California’s Industrial Transformation—Snapshots 1860–1939

On this page

Introduction

Guiding Questions

How To Use This Resource

Explore more like this

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

Rounding Cape Horn. / C.P.R.R.

Chinese emigration to America: sketch on board the steam-ship Alaska, bound for San Francisco

April 29, 1876. San Francisco, California

The unique map of California

Approximately 1888

California Citrus Box Label: California Brand

1890-1900

U. S. Indian Day School, Soboba

Approximately 1915, Soboba Indian Reservation, Riverside County

Universal City. Entrance to the “City of Wonders.”

Approximately 1915, Universal City, California

Big Creek Huntington Lake Dams

1917. Big Creek, Fresno County, California

“Hoover Town”, Los Angeles, March 18, 1932

1932. Hoover Town, Los Angeles, California

Orange packers, San Fernando Heights Citrus Packing House, Los Angeles County. 1938

San Fernando, Los Angeles County, California

Collection-Wide Project Ideas and Prompts

Standards

Authors, Contributors, and Reviewers

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