The Bakersfield Californian and The Art Council of Kern are collaborating to celebrate 160 years of The Bakersfield Californian in “Clippings.” An art exhibit displaying different headlines, photos, and events that the Californian has highlighted over the years in their paper.
Sophie Nava
From destructive earthquakes, to reporting on 9/11, and losing local legend Buck Owens, all these events and more were covered and showcased in this exhibit. While it shows a history of The Californian, it also recognizes the history of Bakersfield through the stories covered.
The Bakersfield Californian described this exhibit by saying there are, “Front pages of The Bakersfield Californian, highlighting significant news stories through the years and showing how the newspaper’s focus and design has evolved over the decades,” they add, “Now you’ll see mostly local news on the front pages, but it wasn’t always so. World affairs used to dominate the covers.”
Californian not only covers local news but also state, national, and global news. Some non-local events and news covered by The Californian and displayed in this exhibit include 9/11, new presidential candidates, and war endings. Some local topics that hit home include local legend Buck Owens’ death, powerful earthquakes that hit Kern County, and fires that burned Lake Isabella.
Sophie Nava
Along with these stories on display were a variety of pictures taken locally showing celebrities and politicians coming to Bakersfield, tragic plane and car crashes, rare snow days, and historical moments like baseball fans listening to the World Series in Downtown Bakersfield. There were an assortment of different types of pictures, including many in black and white, which helped to date how far back The Bakersfield Californian has really been in the works. Among the many pictures on display, each were categorized by topic. There were separate sections for different types of pictures, like a nature section full of images like California flowers, skies, and local nature. Similarly, there was a section of photos for sports, such as images taken at The Bakersfield Speedway and plenty of local football. There were also sections to cover the music scene in Bakersfield, with icons like Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam when they visited Bakersfield. Following this was a section for photos from tragic events like fires and pictures from court in well-known cases that have happened in Bakersfield.
Sophie Nava
Another fun artifact seen in this exhibit is The Californian’s 1923 Ford Model-T panel truck which is now a rare sighting to be seen in public. This truck, which is occasionally brought out for parades and special events, is currently at the exhibit. It has gold and dark wood accents throughout, along with The Californian name written nicely across the side.
Sophie Nava
Not only did this exhibit show lots of important events through headlines and pictures, but they also showcased tools used in journalism. On display they had many different types of writing tools like a typewriter and older computers that were first used. They also had an entire display case with types of cameras used in taking pictures for The Californian, with newer and older models. By displaying these types of tools that were used in the past and the present, it helps the viewers and readers sneak behind the scenes of what is used to produce the local paper. They also showed the viewers a CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key/Black) display, which shows the different colors the paper takes to become fully colored and cohesive.
The Art Council of Kern will hold this exhibit until Oct. 10 Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm, so be sure to check it out before then downtown at 1020 18th Street.