Kern River Valley Historical Society
Preserving the History of the Southern Sierra
Learn how to support this organization
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
We are continually striving to preserve and disseminate the history of the Kern River Valley. At our Museum, we construct displays that depict the various aspects of our history including pre-history, the Gold Rush, our Native Americans, movies made in the valley, the Forest Service, Hydroelectric power and many more topics. We have recently added a display on the history of recreation in the valley, and a display on local cowboys and ranchers. During COVID, we did a total revamp of 5 displays within the museum. We are currently working on a Natural History display.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Docent Training Program
We maintain a roster of about 50 qualified docents and we continue to solicit and train substitutes and replacements. We are reviving our Junior Docent program under the leadership of Marji Bothwell. She is a retired teacher.
One Spade Youth Packers
The Historical Society supports the One Spade Youth Packers. These young people learn skills related to mule packing and early farming. The learn to harness the mules and use various early farming equipment. We give them money each year to enter the competition at Mule Days. We give them a minimum of $1,000.
History Day
Each year, the museum thanks our community for it's continued support. We provide food, entertainment, and historical demonstrations that are free to the public. Demonstrations include Dutch oven cooking, butter churning, blacksmithing, hit and miss engines, woodworking, crafts, gold panning and assaying, vintage guns, and vintage tractors. Entertainment includes local bands and a local ventriloquist.
Art Gallery
We host local artists who belong to the local art association. Each month a new artist is on display. Occasionally, featured artists paint paintings on our front porch. All proceeds from art that is sold in our gallery go to the artist. Frequently, the artist donates 10% of the proceeds back to the museum.
Museum
Our museum has grown steadily since its inception in 1967. It began in a small room in the Chamber of Commerce building. It is now a 3,100 square foot facility. The museum depicts the history of the Kern River Valley. Displays include our pre-history, our gold mining history, the transition to farming and ranching, our local Native Americians, our movie making past, the Edison Company's three power plants, the Chinese presence, local businesses in the early 1900's, and our map room that shows the geologic history, recreational opportunities, and old historical maps of the area.
In our back yard, we have many displays including an old miner's cabin, a stamp mill, an blacksmith's barn, early wagons, a 1925 Graham truck that brought supplies into the Valley, all of the brands registered in the valley. We also have an outdoor theater/meeting room where we show some of the old movies that were filmed here, host concerts, receptions and meetings.
Admission to our museum is free.
Museum Reasearch Annex
Our Research Annex houses over 5,000 books, 15,000 photographs, countless documents, 400 maps, and over 400 pieces of art. Its emphasis is on local history, but there are many items about Western history. It is open to researchers and the public.
Where we work
Awards
Organization of the Year 2023
Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of free participants on field trips
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We offer field trips 5-8 times a year. We generally have about 30-40 participants. We had two field trips that far outpaced our usual field trips at 60 and 75 participants.
Total number of fields trips
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of free participants in conferences
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
We offer History Talks 6-8 times a year.
Total number of conferences held
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
We host History Talks 6-8 times per year. Guest speakers from all over the county give presentations to our members and the community.
Total number of free admissions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
All admissions are free. Our visitors come from all over the world.
Total number of off-site performances held
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We hosted "Tails on the Trail" for the second time time. We had actors portraying local historical figures. Gene Verbeet has reprised his character for three on site performances.
Total number of periodical subscribers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Our newsletter, the Saddlebag, is sent out to all members each month.
Number of works exhibited temporarily
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Art Gallery
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Each month, we have exhibits from the Kern River Valley Art Association and works from our own collection in our Art Gallery.
Number of books distributed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Other - describing something else
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our gift shop sells books about local history, natural history, and county history. We also sell children's books. Our book about Lake Isabella Dam sold over 600 copies!
Number of books published for previously published writers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Other - describing something else
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We are back in the publishing business! We published an old manuscript by Ken Wortley. It is called "Adventures of a Packer and Guide." We have another book about the Isabella Dam in the works.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our overall goal is to preserve our local history and teach others about the importance of the area in the settling of California, as well as the economic impact that our gold era mines, our hydroelectric plants and our tourism had on the development of California.
We recently built a 1700 square foot research annex. The Historical Society has an extensive collection of artifacts, documents, Western art, and 5,000 books bequeathed to us by local activists Ardis and Gayle Walker. Walker was from a Kern Valley pioneer family. He was also a county supervisor, conservationist, poet and community activist. He kept everything and within his collection, are important historical documents covering several generations. The annex will house the Walker collection and many other documents owned by the Historical Society. We also have collections from Bob Powers, Bill Jenkins, and the Creighton/Hand family.
We are in the process of archiving and digitally archiving all of the documents, organizing the books, and displaying the Native American artifacts, Western art and other artifacts.
We are currently working on outreach to colleges, other historical societies, and the local community.
We have also gotten back into the publishing business. In 2022, we found an old manuscript by local Mule Packer, Ken Wortley. We published it in 2022. We are now working on a book on the Isabella Dam.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We are working towards accomplishing the following: 1) Gather and organize and archive the thousands of documents in the Walker collection and the Bob Powers Collection. 2) Catalog the 5,000 books in the collection. 3) Catalog the Native American artifacts, gold rush artifacts, Western Art, antiques, and other artifacts in the collection. 4) letting interested parties know that the collection is available. 5) Gather donations of more materials from pioneer families. 6) Publish books about the area.
We have made great strides in sorting, scanning and cataloging the collection. We have partnered with Chris Livingston, the archivist at CSU, Bakersfield. He has been a wealth of information for us. We were also recently named a source of information on Kern County by the California State Library. In 2022, we had an unpaid intern from Fresno Pacific University.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
As an all volunteer organization, we are proud of the fact that we can tackle large projects such as this. We are also proud to say we are debt free. Our museum started in 1967 as a small collection of local artifacts housed in a room at the local Chamber of Commerce. In 1989, we purchased an old doctor's office and renovated it into the original museum, and added a large addition in 1996. We have also done smaller projects like moving the Mayflower Cabin from Greenhorn Mountain to the museum back yard, constructing a large patio area to house outdoor displays, moving an old stamp mill from the Paiute Mountains to the museum back yard, and the construction a large outdoor theater/meeting room. With each project, we have managed to stay out of debt. We have also relied heavily on our large group of volunteers.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have completed the construction on the Research Annex. We have catalogued all of the books and sorted all of the ducuments in the collection. We are now organizing and cataloguing the documents. We are also scanning and cataloguing photos. This will take several years.
In the meantime, we are writing grants, conducting fundraisers, and speaking at local civic groups to get donations. We have solicited donations from our membership as well.
We have published 3 books in the last 2 years: Adventures of a Packer and Guide by Ken Wortley, Beneath the Lake by Elizabeth Brady, and The Building of Isabella Dam: A Pictorial History of Isabella Dam's Construction by Gene Verbeet and Larry Holochwost. We have two more books in the works: A biography of Bob Powers and a book about the moives made in the Kern River Valley.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Kern River Valley Historical Society
Board of directorsas of 04/03/2024
John Newman
Retired
Term: 2023 - 2024
Erie Johnson
Retired
Term: 2023 - 2024
Dianna Anderson
Retired Teacher
Kathleen Creighton-Fuchs
Author
Ron Anderson
Retired Teacher
JoAnn Johnson
Retired Teacher
CharlAnn Gregory
Retired Teacher
Gene Verbeet
Retired Self Employed
Don Chapman
Retired
Melody Batelaan
Retired Social Worker
Michael Batelaan
Retired Newspaper Owner
Tom McKinney
Retired Edison Co.
Linda Kubisiak
Retired
Harry Schustz
Computer tech
Donni Higgins
Retired
Diane Zemliak
Retired
Marji Bothwell
Retired teacher
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/17/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.