Speaker Guire John Cleary with Allen/Light reception guests

Elizabeth Goldstein, CSPF President, addressing the guests at the Light/Freeman reception

The Hidden Stories Series is one of California State Parks Foundation’s newest programs, and is aimed at telling the stories of varying groups that have contributed to California’s rich history in its 278 magnificent state parks.  The Series, began in 2009, is designed to be implemented over a two year cycle: in year #1, a conference is held that focuses on a particular group’s stories, and in year #2, programmatic recommendations stemming from the conference are launched.  In short, over the two-year cycle, hidden stories are discovered, told and thereby uncovered and shared with the public.

The potential for the Series is broad. We plan to hold conferences that will examine the hidden stories of a whole range of communities, including Japanese-American, Chinese-American, Latino, Native American, women and more. We also plan to present smaller, more narrowly focused events from time to time, such as an ”Insider Tours” of state parks and special receptions.

The programmatic initiative that came out of our first conference: “100 Years Since Allensworth: Is California Living Up To The Legacy?” is the website you are viewing right now.  Participants expressed the need to have one place where they can go for resources, information, links and articles about the subjects they care about.  We encourage you to comment on this site with suggestions for expansion, improvements and changes, as well as your opinion on the articles we will be posting.  We look forward to hearing from you, and welcome!