CONGRESS OF HISTORY
OF
SAN DIEGO & IMPERIAL COUNTIES
2023
56th Annual CoH Conference
Come One, Come All!
Community events that bind us together
Friday, February 24 – Saturday, February 25, 2023
S.E.S. Portuguese Hall, 2818 Avenida de Portugal (Point Loma),
San Diego, CA
Free parking
Historical organizations and authors represented at tables
Sunbelt Publications with books for sale
15% off at La Playa Books that weekend if conference program is shown
On Saturday, the Portuguese Museum across the street open for free.
Conference Sponsors:
The Portuguese Historical Center
Barona Cultural Center & Museum
La Playa Books
Ocean Beach Historical Society
San Diego Floral Society
Sunbelt Publications
Vista Historical Society Museum at Ranch Minerva
| Speaker | Topic |
| Friday, February 24, 2023 | |
| Richard Carrico | San Diego’s First Fiestas, Pow Wows, and Gatherings: Thousands of Years of Celebrations |
| Aditi Worcester | Coming Together to Find the Facts: The Historic Vital Records Collection at the County Archives |
| Evelyn Barandiaran | Festa do Espirito Sano Brings Together the Region’s Portuguese Community, and More! |
| Nancy Carol Carter | Four Days of Pageantry: Groundbreaking for the 1915 Exposition |
| Jim Price and Bruce Semelsberger | Celebration of the San Diego & Arizona Railroad: 1919 and the Centennial in 2019 |
| Russell Low | The All-American Crew: World War II Brought Them Together, Dedication to Country Made Them a Team |
| Lousie Torio | Dia de los Muertos in Sherman Heights: Community Coalescence via Culture |
| Eric Duval | The “Tail” of the Ocean Beach Kite Festival |
| Saturday, February 25, 2023 | |
| Diana LIndsay | Coming Together to Create the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park |
| Alexander D. Bevil | When Hollywood Came to My Neighborhood: Opening Day at the Clairemont Theatre, June 29, 1965 |
| Susan Walter | The Earthquake That Brought Us Together |
| Bill McNaughton | The Day the Missing Grapes Returned to North County: Reviving the Grape Day Festival for a Third Time! |
2022 CoH Conference – CANCELLED due to pandemic
2021
55th Annual CoH Conference – VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
Remarkable Women
Breaking Down Barriers/Creating Legacies in the San Diego Region
Friday, February 26 – Saturday, February 27, 2021
20% off at Sunbelt Publications through March 31, 2021
Conference Sponsors:
The Portuguese Historical Center
Barona Cultural Center & Museum
Friends of the Villa Montezuma, Inc.
Louis Goldich, Collections Care Consultant
La Playa Books
Ocean Beach Historical Society
Rick Crawford
Mogilner’s Cobblestone Jail
San Diego Floral Society
Sunbelt Publications
San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild
Vista Historical Society & Museum at Rancho Minerva
| Speaker | Topic |
| Friday, February 26, 2021 | |
| Susan Diamond | Dr. Charlotte Baker: Pioneer for Women in San Diego |
| Anne Hoiberg | Lydia Knapp Horton: Women’s Rights, THE Library, and Woman’s Clubs |
| Beth Brust | Belle Benchley: How The World’s First Woman Zoo Director Made the San Diego Zoo World Famous |
| Jody Abssy | Ruth Hayward and Manuelita Brown: Awesome Sculptors You Should Know |
| Russ Low | Sue Leong: The First Mother of San Diego’s Chinese Community |
| Adrienne Berlin | Casa de Paz and the Battered Women’s Collation:Creating a Safe Space for Women Experiencing Domestic Violence |
| Saturday, February 27, 2021 | |
| Alexander D. Bevil | “Anyone Talk History, Today?” Mrs. Winifred Davidson: The Founder of San Diego’s “Lost HIstory” |
| Susan Hunter Bugbee | Mary Fitzgerald Ward: First County of San Diego Historian |
| Steve Lech | Susie Keef Smith’s California Desert Photography – “Postcards from Mecca” |
| Jonnie Wilson | Florence Chadwick: Record-Smashing Distance Swimmer |
| Maria E. Garcia | Mary and Helen Marston: Founders of Neighborhood House – The Heart of the Mexican-American Community |
| Evelyn Barandiaran | Mary Moniz: Bringing Portuguese Dance to San Diego/Reinforcing Portuguese Traditions |
| Christine Stokes | Sybil Stockdale: How a Local Woman Created a National Movement during the Vietnam War |
CoH 2020 Conference – CANCELLED due to pandemic
2019
54th Annual CoH Conference
Defining Moments
250 YEARS
Extraordinary Events that Shaped the History of the San Diego Region (1769-2019)
Friday, March 29 – Saturday, March 30, 2019
S.E.S. Portuguese Hall, 2818 Avenida de Portugal (Point Loma), San Diego, CA
Free parking
Organization exhibit tables
Vendor tables
Author tables
Free to visit the Portuguese Museum and the 1922 Portuguese Chapel
Conference Sponsor:
The Portuguese Historical Center
| Speaker | Topic |
| Friday, March 29, 2019 | |
| Founding Era (1769 – 1850) | |
| Max Kurillo | 1769: The First Spanish Intrusion into San Diego – From El Camino Real to the 1906 Commemorative Bells |
| Alex Bevil | March 23, 1770: For the Want of an Anchor – How a Lost Sea Anchor Contributed to the Founding of San Diego 250 Years Ago |
| Robert Kittle | 1775: How Franciscan Frontiersmen Charted the West |
| Edie Littlefield Sundby | December 2015: The Mission Walker’s 1,600 Mile El Camino Real Trek – Following in the Footsteps of Serra and Portola |
| Middle Era (1851 – 1950) | |
| Karen Scanlon | November 15, 1855: Finally a Lighthouse at San Diego – Creating the Beacon of Safety for Southern California Maritime Travel |
| Roseanne Goodwin | 1884: Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona – How A Romantic Myth of San Diego Captured America’s Heart and Brought Tourism to Town |
| Douglas Mengers and Rhiannon Killian | July 3, 1886: All Aboard! San Diego’s First Streetcar Service Blossoms into a Neighborhood-Seeding Commuter Rail Industry |
| Sandra Bonura | 1887 and Beyond: John D. Spreckels: Builder of San Diego |
| Steve Lech | May 1893: San Diego County Loses One-Third of its Territory – The Formation of Riverside County out of San Diego County |
| Bruce Semelsberger | November 15, 1919: With the Driving of a Golden Spike, a Neighborhood Railroad Became Part of a Transcontinental Giant |
| Saturday, March 30, 2019 | |
| Helen Ofield | 1925: Unintended Consequences – How the Mattoon Act Nearly Killed Southern California Development |
| Jack Larimer | February 27, 1926: The Vista Irrigation District Opens the Door to Rural Agricultural Development and the Creation of the City of Vista |
| Laurie Egan-Hedley | 1932: The Barona Band of Mission Indians – Maintaining Sovereignty Through the Relocation Process |
| Lisa K. Shapiro | World War II: No Forgotten Fronts – The Poignant Letters from San Diego State College Students at War |
| Lynne Carrier | 1947: Leon Williams – Together We Can Do More; Breaking Barriers for the African-American Community |
| Modern Era (1951 – 2000) | |
| Bill Ketchum | 1957: To The Moon on a Slide Rule – General Dynamics, the Atlas Missile, and San Diego’s Extraordinary Role in Space Exploration |
| Dave Hampton | 1963: Guy Williams’ Poems for Painters – Evidence of the Avant Garde in San Diego |
| Maria Garcia | April 22, 1970: The Mexican-American Community is Heard – the Founding of Chicano Park |
| Welton Jones | 1980s: When San Diego Actors Stopped Giving It Away – Theatre Turns Pro |
| Lambda Archives Staff | 1987: Deserving of Preservation – The Founding of the Lambda Archives to Preserve LGBTQ+ History |
2018
53th Annual CoH Conference
Believe It or Not
It Happened in My Neighborhood!
Friday, March 2 – Saturday, March 3, 2018
S.E.S. Portuguese Hall, 2818 Avenida de Portugal (Point Loma), San Diego, CA
Free parking
Organization exhibit tables
Vendor tables
Book sellers
Author tables
Visit the Portuguese Museum and the 1922 Portuguese Chapel
Conference Sponsor:
The Portuguese History Center
| Speaker | Topic |
| Friday, March 2, 2018 | |
| Roseanne Goodwin | The Name Game: Community and Neighborhood Names Over the Decades |
| Christopher Milnes | University Heights: What’s that Ostrich doing in My Neighborhood? 1904 and the Arrival of Harvey Bentley’s Ostrich Farm |
| Jennifer Grahlman | Delights of the Round Table(s): How El Monte County Park’s Concrete Behemoths Embody Lakeside History and Reflect National Trends |
| Rebecca Farnbach | Temecula’s Unique Vail Ranch: From Helen Hunt Jackson to “Perry Mason” |
| Tony Souza | Believe It or Not: The Importance of Point Loma’s Tuna Fishing Industry to the Portuguese Community |
| Kathy Blavatt | From Our Local Beach to the English Channel: The Amazing Achievements of the World Champion Water Women of Ocean Beach |
| Karen Scanlon | San Diego’s Waterfront: The Horrific 1905 Explosion of the USS Bennington |
| John Webster | When Pacific Beach was the Home of the West Point of the West |
| Susan Walter | Alpine: Where the Most Beautiful Woman on Stage… was a Man |
| Saturday, March 3, 2018 | |
| Eric Duvall | It Happened at Lomaland: How the Remarkable Mr. Spalding Invented Baseball’s Mythological Beginnings |
| John Martin | El Capitan: The Dam That Divided the City |
| Alexander D. Bevil | A Neighborhood in Flames: The 40th Anniversary of the Crash of Flight 182 in North Park |
| Sandee Wilhoit | San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter: There’s a Spy in the Attic! |
| Portuguese Historical Center | Believe It or Not [Acredite-o Ou Não]: For Over 100 Years Portuguese Culture Has Been Alive and Well in Point Loma |
| Dance Demonstration: The Portuguese-American Dancers of San Diego | |
| Vonn Marie May | Rancho Santa Fe: The Town the Railroad Built |
| Barbara Zaragoza | South Bay Border Barons: Racetracks, Saloons, Opium Dens, and Brothels During the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s |
| Charles Spratley | My Neighborhood Disappeared: Cuyamaca City, Gone With The Gold |
| Robert P. Case | Freedom Fighters, Snake Oil, and the Flying Rats of Spring Valley |
2016
51st Annual CoH Conference
Scandals & Scoundrels
Stories of Controversy and Such in the San Diego Region
Friday, March 4 – Saturday, March 5, 2016
Oasis, 1702 Camino del Rio North (Mission Valley Mall), San Diego, CA
Free parking
2015
50th Annual CoH Conference
Balboa Park: 1915 & Beyond
Friday, March 6 – Saturday, March 7, 2015
Recital Hall (next to the Puppet Theater), Balboa Park, San Diego
Free parking
Conference Sponsors:
The Committee of One Hundred
San Diego History Center
Horseless Carriage Club of America – San Diego Region
Friends of the Villa Montezuma
New Pacific Productions (Jack and Helen Ofield)
Ocean Beach Historical Society
Save our Heritage Organisation (SOHO)
2014
49th Annual CoH Conference
A Half Century of Local History
Friday, March 7 – Saturday, March 8, 2014
Marina Village Conference Center, Vineyard Room, 1936 Quivira Way, San Diego
Free parking
2009
44th Annual CoH Conference
First We Thirst
The History of Water in the San Diego and Imperial Co. Region
Friday, March 6 – Saturday, March 7, 2009
Barona Valley Ranch Golf Event Center
30% discount at the Sunbelt Publisher’s sales table
Torrey Pines Rare Books sales table
Author tables
Conference Sponsors:
Barona Cultural Center and Museum
Barona Band of Mission Indians
Congress of History of S.D. & Imperial Counties 