Historical expo will peer into the digital age

The Costa Mesa Historical Society is celebrating a bit of history itself — its 50th anniversary — and plans to mark the occasion with a special expo next weekend.

The free event May 22 at the Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Ave., will go from 1 to 4 p.m. It will feature more than 20 tables sponsored by authors and other Orange County historical societies from cities such as Brea, Santa Ana and Garden Grove. It will be the largest expo the Costa Mesa Historical Society has ever held.

The theme of the day, however, won’t look into the past but rather will peer into the future, said Art Goddard, a lead Historical Society volunteer.

To that effect, one of the event’s three speakers, Susie Sprinkel Hudson, a photographer and scrapbooker, will discuss how to save mementos in the digital age.

The event also will focus on archiving historical events.

“This is not about history. This is about how you collect history,” said archivist/curator Mary Ellen Goddard, Art’s wife.

The Historical Society also is debuting a book co-written by the Goddards that discusses Costa Mesa history from 1940 to 2003. The society’s previous book, published in 2009, focused on the city’s early history, from Native American times to 1939.

The new book, from Arcadia Publishing, will hit shelves the week of July 10. All proceeds will benefit the Historical Society.

The Historical Society was founded as a nonprofit in 1966 with the initial purpose of creating a museum at the Diego Sepulveda Adobe, Costa Mesa’s oldest building. It is believed to have been built as early as 1817. The adobe, now part of Estancia Park, was first used as a shelter for cow herders from Mission San Juan Capistrano.

The Historical Society met at City Hall in its earliest years, Art Goddard said, and had its archived materials scattered about the city in private homes.

The group found a permanent home after acquiring a bank building at Adams Avenue and Mesa Verde Drive East that was scheduled to be demolished. The roughly 3,200-square-foot, one-story structure was moved in 1981 to Lions Park, where the society has been headquartered ever since.

“That allowed us to consolidate our operations,” Goddard said.

Now, the society is bursting at the seams with its vast collections and displays, but it gets its space at the public park for a bargain rate: $1 a year. The deal includes the society staffing and operating the adobe as a museum at no cost to City Hall.

When asked about his favorite moment in city history, Goddard pointed to 1953, the year of Costa Mesa’s incorporation. An earlier attempt, in 1948, failed.

“It’s like anything else in Costa Mesa,” Goddard said. “Sometimes it takes two or three times to happen.”

To RSVP for the expo, send an email to [email protected] or call (949) 631-5918.