Folsom Historical Society
General Information
Contact Information
Nonprofit
Folsom Historical Society
Address
823 Sutter Street
Folsom, CA 95630 3191
Phone
(916) 985-2707
Web Site
folsomhistorymuseum.org
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Folsom-HistoryMuseum/119859388030749
Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/
At A Glance
Year of Incorporation
1961
Organization's type of tax exempt status
Public Supported Charity
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Mission & Areas Served
Statements
Mission Statement
Our MISSION is:
• To discover, collect, preserve, interpret and make accessible the heritage of Folsom and its surrounding area
• To identify and preserve information about places of historical interest
• To promote the public awareness of Folsom's history
• To educate the public on the importance of Folsom's role in the history of California and the United States
• To maintain museums of historical interest
Background Statement
The Folsom History Museum was founded in 1960 by local residents as an educational, non-profit organization
with a core mission to preserve and promote the history of Folsom. Its first major accomplishment was averting
the demolition of the century old Wells Fargo Assay Office on Sutter Street which became the home of the
Folsom History Museum.
Since then, the museum has grown into a premiere small town museum, with an esteemed permanent
collection and world class special exhibits. Its historical interests have grown as well and include documenting
and exhibiting the history of the Folsom area’s Native Americans, early explorers, gold miners, Chinese
residents, the Pony Express, Folsom Prison, the Folsom Powerhouse, and local historic homes. With the recent
reconstruction of the historic Railroad Block and Sutter Street, the Museum has become both the custodian and
beneficiary of numerous historic artifacts unearthed during the excavations, underscoring Folsom’s vibrant and
colorful history and unique “sense of place.”
Education and Programs
Since its founding, the History Museum has established a number of educational programs and venues. Its
flagship is the museum on Sutter Street, but now also includes the newly renovated Living History Center at
Pioneer Village on Leidesdorff Street and soon to include the historic Chan House. These venues also serve as
exciting event locations for artists, musicians and patrons. Educational tours and interpretive programs for
school children and adults include working examples of historic artifacts and farm equipment, blacksmithing and
th
th
gold panning, and snippets of life in the 19 and early 20 centuries. The museum is committed to nurturing
our next generation and presenting our past in the best possible ways.
Volunteer Opportunities and Projects
The Folsom History Museum currently has numerous volunteer opportunities. Over 150 active volunteers
provide over 4000 hours annually as archivists, docents, gift shop receptionists, bookkeepers, exhibitors and
event coordinators. And now, with the historically accurate redevelopment of downtown Sutter Street, new
opportunities abound, including a front entrance facelift for the museum, improvements to Pioneer Village that
will enhance its functionality and regional significance, development of Railroad Block interpretive programs.
Needs Statement
1.Financial Support to provide operating budget - Annual budget totals $140,000, with income and expenses
currently matching, but with little room for growth of programs, exhibits and facilities.
2.Expansion of archival storage to accommodate new artifacts from recent excavation of downtown Folsom.
This will necessitate reorganization of office and some new partitions, wiring and lighting: $5000.
3.Provision of ADA compliant toilet facilities at Pioneer Village - Currently there are no accessible toilets within
two city blocks, limiting the use for events unless portable facilities are imported. Toilets will cost
approximately $25,000 when built within the existing Carriage House.
4.Exhibit signage needs to be developed and have QR codes added both at the Sutter Street Museum and at
Pioneer Village - We currently have over 20 You-Tube videos captured showing our exhibit items in actual
operation. This will cost approximately $5,000.
5.Archival development and expansion – This will include new software upgrades to allow better tracking and
verification of items. This will cost approximately $10,000.
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CEO/Executive Director Statement
The Folsom Historical Society is charged with making the rich and colorful narrative of Folsom’s history come
alive as a cultural and economic asset to our community. Highlights of this narrative include:
Key events:
• Grand Central Station of the California Gold Rush
• First trail road west of the Mississippi
• True terminus of the Pony Express
• Birthplace of the US electrical power grid
Cultural history:
• Settlement of the Nisenan-Maidu people
• 1849
colony of African-American gold miners
• 2nd largest Chinese settlement in 1880 California
• Other early settlers included Italians, Portuguese, English and Germans
• Early religions included Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Jewish and Buddhist
My firm belief is that Folsom’s history encompasses more elements of California history than any other town in
the state. Despite these incredible facts, too many people only know of Folsom as the home of Folsom Prison
thanks to the Johnny Cash song Folsom Prison Blues.
Today we offer three primary programs to tell this story
• The Folsom History Museum - presents the overall narrative with our permanent exhibits and highlights
specific topics with our rotating exhibits.
• Pioneer Village - offers a hands-on opportunity to step back into the lifestyle of 19th Century California.
• School tours – bring this information to local schools and welcome school groups who visit our facilities
With our limited paid staff, these efforts are largely volunteer-led and do an admirable job of sustaining local
appreciation of Folsom’s history. Our hope is that with additional funding we may begin to expand these
programs to the point that Folsom’s history becomes a much more widely appreciated community asset even to
the point of making Folsom into a major cultural tourism destination.
I would be happy to discuss in further detail.
Jeff Ferreira-Pro
Board President
Folsom Historical Society
Areas of Service
Areas
Sacramento County
El Dorado County
Service Categories
Primary Organization Category
Arts,Culture & Humanities / Historical Societies & Historic Preservation
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Programs
Programs
Museum
Description
This involves basic museum operations and exhibits, with 4-5 special
exhibits each year. The museum is solely supported by gifts and entrance
fees. The History Museum on Sutter St. incurs a $5 fee, and has over
10,000 visitors each year. Pioneer Village, a hands-on living history
museum one block north, because of the lack of staffing to collect, is free
and operates on voluntary contributions. Pioneer Village operates under
the supervision of blacksmiths working in the Folsom forge creating art
work.
The museums operate under the Director and 1 paid part time
administrator plus volunteers working over 10,000 hours each year.
This constitutes the vast majority of the current museum budget of
$140,000, now in the black after two difficult years when Sutter St. was
undergoing major reconstruction during the recession.
Budget
$100,000.00
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, General/Other Museums
Population Served
General/Unspecified
Program Successes
Our visitor count has continually grown 10% of more over the past several
years, with a notable drop during reconstruction of Sutter Street when the
museum was not open for periods of time.
Volunteers have increased throughout the museum operation, in number
of volunteers as well as hours/volunteer.
Our ultimate goal is to offer more displays to the public both at the
museum and at Pioneer Village. At Pioneer Village, we hope to add
enough volunteers to continually staff with docents that walk the village,
explaining Folsom's rich history and getting people involved with the
hands-on exhibits. This will also enable the museum to charge a fee for
the services and exhibits similar to the Sutter St. museum.
Program Success Monitored By
Our success is measured by the reaction of the viewing public. We
continually receive compliments on our special exhibits, as they are noted
to be in a class of much larger museums.
Pioneer Village is measured again by attendance. We continually grow
and more people know of this wonderful jewel in the city. People are
beginning to attend functions there as well.
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Education
Description
The museum offers docent-led tours to over 2,000 school children each
year as part of the school curriculum teaching California history, primarily
4th graders. Tours are also provided to other public groups, including
scouts, seniors, etc. There is a growing foreign student tour program.
Costs are primarily those of volunteer time. Our tours include the
Museum, explaining our exhibits documenting Folsom's history. They then
move to Pioneer Village where the tours go through an early miner's
cabin, seeing how people lived, including outhouse, well and hand pump,
windmill, and claw-footed bathtub. After, they visit a working blacksmith
shop and learn how smiths made tools for mining and farming and about
everything else. Finally they get to try their had at gold panning.
These tours, particularly the blacksmith and gold panning, are highly
enjoyed by all.
Budget
$1,500.00
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, General/Other History & Historical Programs
Population Served
Children and Youth (0 - 19 years)
Program Successes
Recently the Soroptimist of Metropolitan Sacramento adopted the Ethel
Phillips Elementary School in Sacramento as their club program. When
asked what tours the club could fund for the school children, they were
quickly told "we just love going to Pioneer Village!"
Our education program is measured by return visits. Although this
sometimes gets reduced because of school district budget cuts eliminating
transportation funds, we find most schools find a way to make the trip to
Folsom, and our child per year numbers are relatively constant. We
expect them to grow when school budgets return to normal.
Program Success Monitored By
We measure the success by return visits. Children, when visiting, give
instant feedback with their involvement and attention. Our docents are
continually looking to improve their presentation to stimulate the children's
imagination.
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Archives and Reaserch, Genealogy
Description
The museum has a large file of archives, including early photographs,
family records, newspaper articles of interest, as well as clothing and
artifacts attributed to early Folsom families and residents. Photographs
are stored digitally as well as hard originals and are available to the public.
We need additional software and storage shelving to house our increasing
archives. Recently we received artifacts uncovered during the
reconstruction of Sutter St. and the Railroad Block in the center of Old
Folsom. We expect Chinese artifacts when we incorporate a future
Chinese History part of the museum. We are nearing a critical shortage of
archive storage space that will require a Capital Improvement Program to
add more building space.
Budget
$4,500.00
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, General/Other Museums
Population Served
General/Unspecified
Program Successes
Recently a family form Oklahoma searched our archives and found
records of an ancestor that was here during the Gold Rush. They sent the
Folsom Historical Society a check and a letter thanking our staff for
helping them.
When the City uncovered artifacts during Sutter St. reconstruction, they
quickly turned to the Museum as the place to put them.
Program Success Monitored By
Our archive security has recently been improved with security cameras
and alarms, enabling others to consider our museum as a secure place.
These organizations include the state of California Parks Department as
well as the city of Folsom. We need additional security screens on the
second floor archive storage to increase the security.
Gift Shop
Description
The Gift Shop features items appropriate to Folsom's history, such as
history books, art and jewelry relating to the gold rush period and other
Folsom events. The Gift Shop is experiencing growing sales and is a
major supporting function of the museum. One issue we are facing is that
our totally volunteer staff on weekends needs a paid, hence more reliable,
staffer to supervise sales during these high traffic times and to provide
additional security against shoplifting and disruption. This position is
expected to cost $8,000 per year.
The success of our gift shop is directly related to sales.
Budget
$11,600.00
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, General/Other Museums
Population Served
General/Unspecified
Program Successes
When we were able to increase the stock for the holiday season, sales
and profits are directly increased.
Program Success Monitored By
The program is simply measured by sales. Monthly financials show what
happens when stock is adequate and deliveries are made on time.
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Historical Tours
Description
We have a long-standing school program in which students, about 2,000
per year, visit our Interpretive Museum. They are able to learn about the
surrounding community history and participate in activities including
blacksmithing and gold-panning. We are expanding our program to
increase access to more children from lower-income areas, while creating
an in-depth collaboration through a program called “Museum School.”
rd
This is the 3 year for our Holiday Home Tour of historic Folsom. This
event showcases the history and culture of Folsom. Each year, close to 15
historic homes that accommodate several hundred visitors, staging
historic scenes while actors and hosts engage visitors.
We have started to develop the parameters of a Historic Folsom Walking
Tour, taking groups through the historic Sutter Street, the Powerhouse
Museum and the Railroad Car Museum. This is in the development stage
and needs time and money to flesh out before it can be advertised and
become a part of our program.
Budget
$18,000.00
Category
Community Development, General/Other Tourism Development
Population Served
General/Unspecified
Program Successes
Pioneer Village has developed exhibits and its tours have become notable
among schools and tour venders.
Program Success Monitored By
Our successes will be measured by:
1.the amount of children reached in our museum school program, as well
as the improvement of their simple educational test. This pre and post
museum program test ensures that they are receiving the highest
quality extra-curricular education that we can sustainably offer. We will
also be acquiring general demographic data from the school such as
percentage of free or reduced lunch recipients, showing us our
penetration into high need local communities.
2.Our home tour is measured by amount of tickets sold as well as basic
surveys showing interest and relevance.
3.Our Historic Walking Tour is measured by amount of tickets sold, as
well as the use of simple Quality Assurance/Improvement surveys
which will be used to regularly refine the narrative, as well as the design
of our communication.
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Management
Executive Director
Mr Anthony Ikeda Kolar
E-mail
E-mail
Senior Staff
Name
Title
Ms. Massiel Bobadilla
Assistant
Staff
Full Time Staff
0
Part Time Staff
3
Volunteers
200
Contractors
0
Awards
Award/Recognition
Organization
Year
Bud Davies Award for Community
Partnership in Preservation
Heritage Preservation League of
Folsom
2011
Resolution of Commendation
City of Folsom
2005
Winner: Wild, Wacky and
Wonderful California Exhibit
California State Fair
2002
Resolution and Recognition
State of California Legislature
1997
Appreciation to Continued
Dedication to Collecting,
Preserving and Displaying
Folsom's Rich History
Folsom Chamber of Commerce
2000
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Governance
Board Chair
Board Chair
Mr. Jeff Ferreira-Pro
Company Affiliation
VSP
Term
Jan 2014 to Dec 2016
Board of Directors
Board Members
Name
Affiliation
Director at Large Michael Arthurs
Capstone Financial Group
Director at Large Felicia Bhe
California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce
Asst. Treasurer Pam Conrad
Community Volunteer
Director at Large Jim Lofgren
Executive Director at Rental Housing Association
Secretary Roberta Long
Retired Editor
Vice President Joe Luchi
Retired City of Folsom, PW Dir., Asst. C. Mgr.
Director at Large Candy Miller
Retired
Director at Large Jerry Schroeder AIA
S2Architects, Blacksmith artist
Treasurer David Storer AICP
DAS-Development Advisory Services
Director at Large Jim Wilcoxen
Community Volunteer
Board Demographics - Ethnicity
African American/Black
0
Asian American/Pacific Islander
1
Caucasian
10
Hispanic/Latino
0
Native American/American Indian
0
Other
0
Board Demographics - Gender
Male
7
Female
4
Unspecified
0
Governance
Board Meeting Attendance %
80
Number of Full Board Meetings Annually
12
Percentage Making Monetary Contributions
100
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Financials
Fiscal Year
Jan 01, 2016 - Dec 31, 2016
Detailed Financials
Prior Three Years Total Revenue and Expense Totals
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Revenue
$176,062
Total Expenses
$159,177
Prior Three Years Revenue Sources
Fiscal Year
Foundation and Corporation
Contributions
Government Contributions
Federal
State
Local
Unspecified
Individual Contributions
Indirect Public Support
Earned Revenue
Investment Income, Net of Losses
Membership Dues
Special Events
Revenue In-Kind
Other
Prior Three Years Expense Allocations
Fiscal Year
Program Expense
Administration Expense
Fundraising Expense
Payments to Affiliates
Total Revenue/Total Expenses
Program Expense/Total Expenses
Fundraising Expense/Contributed
Revenue
Prior Three Years Assets and Liabilities
Fiscal Year
Total Assets
Total Liabilities
Total Net Assets
2013
$156,815
$150,751
2012
$150,008
$146,207
2014
--
2013
--
2012
--
$0
----$60,004
-$107,345
$523
$8,190
----
$0
----$44,258
-$103,295
$114
$9,148
----
$0
----$50,791
-$88,827
-$8,822
--$1,568
2014
$131,593
$12,117
$15,467
-1.11
83%
26%
2013
$122,826
$12,296
$15,629
-1.04
81%
35%
2012
$111,612
$22,974
$11,621
-1.03
76%
23%
2014
$582,197
$9,660
$572,537
2013
$560,264
$4,612
$555,652
2012
$553,209
$3,621
$549,588
2013
Program Service
Revenue $103,295
Contributions, Gifts &
Grants $44,258
2012
Program Service
Revenue $88,827
Contributions, Gifts &
Grants $50,791
Membership Dues
$9,148
Membership Dues
$8,822
Prior Three Years Top Three Funding Sources
Fiscal Year
2014
Top Funding Source & Dollar Amount
Program Service
Revenue $107,345
Second Highest Funding Source & Dollar All other
Amount
contributions, gifts,
grants, and similar
amounts $60,004
Third Highest Funding Source & Dollar
Membership Dues
Amount
$8,190
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Created 06.14.2017.
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