December 2022

HRPS News & Updates

Dear HRPS Members,

Thanks to those who participated in Giving Tuesday. We appreciate your support! The link will remain active through the end of the month.

There is no speaker program this month, but there are plenty of other fun ways to keep history alive during the holidays, such as Virginia City's "Christmas on the Comstock," and the Sparks Heritage Museum's Second Annual Holiday Craft Fair. Details are below.

Looking for a unique gift idea? The Twentieth Century Club has just released a new cookbook, a compilation of recipes and stories going back to the first edition published in 1907. You can read more about the organization and the historic building they once owned in Reno Historical.

Though we weren't able to bring back the Harvest of Homes Tour this year, we offered 17 walking tours, three in-person speaker programs, and helped improve the appearance of three historic homes by providing Reno Heritage Fund grants totaling more than $8,000. A special $10,000 grant was awarded to the St. Thomas Aquinas School to assist with restoration of their crumbling entrance facade.

Through our FootPrints quarterly, we've provided you with in-depth articles on local history and initiated a Watch List for potentially endangered buildings. Our HRPS Monthly online newsletter has kept you informed about HRPS activities and local events worth attending. And the Reno Historical app provides you with an ever-expanding database of instant information on buildings and places of historical interest.

In short, we've been working hard to raise awareness about the importance of historic preservation, to keep you informed, and to provide ways for members to actively engage with that history.

Many of you will receive your annual membership renewal notice soon. We hope you find your HRPS membership to be a good value, that you'll renew, and that you'll tell a friend.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

Debbie Hinman, Vice President

Historic Reno Preservation Society

paris652@nvbell.net

Nevada Historical Society and Washoe County Library present

High Noon with Neal Cobb

Behind the Scenes & Seams, When Hollywood Came to Reno!

by Karen Burns

Thursday, December 15, 2022, 12 Noon via Zoom

When the world-famous MGM Hello, Hollywood, Hello! show opened in 1978, it was billed as The Biggest Show in the World, on The Biggest Stage in the World appearing in The Biggest Little City in the World – it was a BIG deal! Plus, the show paid tribute to two of the biggest names in entertainment history: MGM Movie Studios and producer Florenz Ziegfeld, who is sometimes billed as the “man who invented modern day show business”.

Karen Burns was a professional dancer appearing in many shows, including Hello, Hollywood, Hello! and had the good fortune to purchase over 1,250 of the original spectacular costumes from this show. These costumes help tell stories of art, culture and entertainment, when Reno was once one of the entertainment capitals of the world!

Program is free but advance registration is required.

Christmas on the Comstock

Looking for something new and different for the holidays? Head up to Virginia City for Christmas on the Comstock

Events include:

Believe Again Christmas Giveaway
V&T Railroad Candy Cane Express
V&T Railroad Train O'Lights
St. Mary's Art Center Holiday Faire
Parade of Lights
Grinch Made Me Do It Saloon Crawl
Magical Christmas Fireworks Show

Dangberg Ranch - Home Ranch for the Holidays

December 3-4, 2022, 10:30 - 2:30

Friends of Dangberg Home Ranch presents “Home Ranch for the Holidays,” an exhibit featuring gifts of Christmas past. An open house event will take place December 3-4, from 10:30-2:30 both days.

Then, December 6-11 and 12-18, the exhibits can be enjoyed as part of a special guided tour, available by reservation. These tours last approximately 45 minutes, with a fee of $5 for members, $10 for non-member adults, and free for all youth 16 and younger. Tour reservations can be made by calling 775-783-9417; group sizes are limited to eight people.

The exhibit's displays include toys from the 1870s through the 1890s that were played with by Fred Dangberg and his siblings, the children of ranch rounder Heinrich F. Dangberg and his wife, Margaret Ferris Dangberg. Other toys in the exhibit were enjoyed by two more generations: Fred's five children and then a grandson, from 1900 through the 1940s. Construction toys, board games, card games and other items invite nostalgia for older folks and historical interest for younger.

Events – Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park

1890s love letters from Fred Dangberg to his future wife, Gertrude Hironymous.

Second Annual Sparks Museum Craft Fair

Please join us for the Second Annual Sparks Museum Holiday Craft Fair on December 10th and 11th from 10 am – 4 pm, 814 Victorian Avenue, Sparks, NV. Local Nevada artisans, crafters, and authors will be situated throughout the building, selling an array of unique items perfect for the gift-giving season!

The New Twentieth Century Club Cookbook is Here!

The fifth edition of Reno's Twentieth Century Club Cook Book compiles recipes from past editions, starting with the 1907 cook book by women whose "modern kitchen" included a coal or wood-burning stove and ice boxes-a wooden box storing ice for refrigeration.

We sifted through hundreds of pages of members' recipes and archives to connect the past with the present.

Hidden in the archives were the stories that needed to be retold of the women who founded the Twentieth Century Club in 1894 and whose names adorn many of Reno's public buildings and streets.

Their credits include joining in civic movements leading to the establishment of women's voting rights and statewide kindergarten for Nevada's children.

A Very Special Limited Edition

The book can be purchased at Sundance Books in Reno or The Flag Store in Sparks for $21.95.

Restless Artists' Theater Presents

RAT is proud to bring history to vibrant life with some amazing characters.

295 20th St., Sparks, NV, 6:30pm

$10 per person, pay at the door

Gene Roddenberry, January 20, 2023

Christine Johnson, Ph.D. is adjunct professor of Geography at UNR and Executive Director of the Sparks Heritage Museum.

Congratulations Christine!

Christine Johnson appointed to National Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names

Most places that humans have explored have names. Naming a place helps people better relate information about that place or what has happened there to one another. But some names are rooted in misogyny, racism and other hateful ideologies.

On the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Christine Johnson was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names.

The committee, announced by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland as Secretarial Order 3405, will help identify and recommend changes to derogatory place names.

Christine Johnson appointed to Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names | University of Nevada, Reno (unr.edu)

Memories - Vintage Christmas Ads

Reno Historical

The Twentieth Century Club building at 335 West First Street was erected in 1925 by Roush and Belz to serve Reno’s first women’s club. Part of a national movement, the 20th Century Club was organized in Reno in 1894, and was open to all women of good repute, and of course the most prominent women of the community were members. Membership in the 20th Century Club peaked at 1,000 in its heyday.

The Twentieth Century Club

View this story and more at renohistorical.org.

Twentieth Century Club | Reno Historical

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