Sonoma Valley Historical Society presents Testimonios: Early California through the Eyes of Women, 1815–1848 translated by Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz

In the1870’s, prompted by General Mariano G. Vallejo,  H.H. Bancroft began an oral history project with approximately sixty-two Californios. Of those Testimonios thirteen were women’s firsthand accounts from the days when California was part of Spain and Mexico. Having lived through the gold rush and seen their country change so drastically, these women understood the need to tell the full story of the people and the places that were their California.