California Kevin StarrMartha PlantzHistory 141

Chapter 6- The Higher Provincialism American Life in an Emergent Region • Josiah Royce

▫ Americans needed personal connections more than ever before, because of the move to becoming an international empire

▫ American could better discover what it meant to be an American by having identity in localized contexts

▫ California became a distinct instance of American civilization

Chapter 6- The Higher Provincialism American Life in an Emergent Region

• During the Gold Rush there was much movement to California ▫ The middle class Americans

knew how to write and knew that their experiences were important not just for themselves but as records of what was happening in history Many Americans wrote

about; movements of exhilaration, loneliness, hope, despair, and sexual longing

▫ Some professionals traveled to California not in search of gold, but to write about the events taking place due to the gold rush

Chapter 6- The Higher Provincialism American Life in an Emergent Region • San Francisco continued to grow and

was known as the “Pacific Coasts epicenter of urbanism and artistic creativity”▫ John Muir arrived in San Francisco

in 1868 Muir was born in Scotland

▫ After his arrival to San Francisco almost immediately moved down to the Yosemite Valley Muir made huge impacts to the

Yosemite Valley and many other California landscapes

• As the population grew in California especially San Francisco many arts started to flourish ▫ California supported art

from frontiers A main feature in paintings

were landscapes of places such as Mount Shast, Mount Tamalpais, Yosemite Valley, Clear Lake, Napa Valley, and the oak-dotted hills of East Bay

▫ Along with paintings, photography also began flourishing

Chapter 10- O Brave New World!Seeking Utopia Through Science and Technology

• California used technology to invent an American place▫ When airplanes reached

their way to California they were adopted and perfected there

▫ California had taken the lead in many technological advancements such as… Vacuum tube technology

To make a possible radio and television

Smashing the atom Californians always led

the nation in biotechnology

Chapter 10- O Brave New World!Seeking Utopia Through Science and Technology• The University of California opened in

1869 ▫ This university was mainly focused

on mining, geology, agriculture, and mechanical engineering This became a crucial part of

the development of the economic state

• The greatest invention to come out of California was the Pelton turbine▫ This changed the world of mining

• The best writing came out of California during the Frontier period▫ Other than Mark Twain

• Californian geologists spent up to four years in the wild, measuring heights and land formation

◦ These geologists included Clarence King, William Henry Brewer, Lorenzo Yates

Chapter 10- O Brave New World!Seeking Utopia Through Science and Technology• Suburban areas of

California were more focused on biological sciences▫ The Bay Area and San

Diego were making the most advancements Most biotech companies

were working on medical advancements such as cures for cancer, Aids, strokes, heart attacks, blood clots, the list goes on

• Three Californians played major roles in bring about astronomical traditions ▫ These men were George

Davidson, James Lick, and Richard Samuel Floyd

▫ Davidson built the first astronomical observatory on the west coast, on top of a hill in San Francisco ▫ Lick left funds to

Davidson because he was so impressed by his work

Sources Starr, Kevin. California. Modern Library. 2005