This album includes photographs, circa 1930, of miscellaneous California state agency facilities including the California State Fair in Sacramento, the Mount Shasta fish hatchery, and Big Basin State Park. The album is significant because it shows what may be the only known images of some state buildings, well-known and minor, which were razed. For example, the California State Fair moved to its current location at CalExpo and most of the buildings pictured in this album were razed. Big Basin State Park, established in 1902, is California's oldest state park. The photographs in this album show state buildings and the surrounding grounds, circa 1930. The album also contains images of state-owned land and equipment and includes statistics about state properties such as information on construction, dates, dimensions, and additions. According to State Archivist J.N. Bowman in 1955, no other state had been found with such a complete series of pictures of its buildings within such a restricted time-period. Records related to the California State Fair and to State Parks are of high interest to researchers. These photographs were created during the Great Depression, and because these are Department of Finance records, one can assume that the state agencies featured in the photographs would want to look their best as they justified their existence and fought for their share of funds from the state budget.

For additional information see California Revealed.

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