The California Legacy Project (CLP) stems from the collaboration of Santa Clara University and Heyday (publishers). CLP draws on the sources of both parties to display the culture of California. They specifically use books, digital excerpts, and illustrations to convey the spirit of our state.

I think this project is pretty neat because I do believe that our state has so much to offer a person. Not only do we have the innovations of technology locally, we have access to nature (oceans, forests, etc) and all types of industries (tech, entertainment, agriculture, etc). These are the things we think of now as Californians, but CLP also highlights the journey our ancestors made to create it.

Harold Bell Wright was a painter from Ohio, but became famous for writing fiction about the various areas of California. I read and listened to excerpts from The Winning of Barbara Worth and The Eyes of the World. CLP provides background information about an author and their work. They also supplement with audio recordings of the excerpts. From the descriptions and radio script, it is easy to fall into Wright’s writing and envision what plains in California were like in the early 1910’s.

I also read “Rebirth of a City” from Golden Gate Country by Gertrude Atherton. That particular piece included the text, but also had a video of what people saw on Market Street in San Francisco after the 1906 fires. I thought this was very thoughtful and helpful because that was what the excerpt was about. Atherton wrote of a pioneer spirit San Franciscans had to rebuild their city into the future.

Pieces from Wright and Atherton both talk about the pioneer spirit, but they also contrast because one is about the city and the other about nature. This inspires me to want to read one of these books when I have time in the future.