Library Insights

Our popular Insight sessions offer visitors to the Wellcome Library an opportunity to explore the variety of our holdings. These free sessions are thematic in style, last around an hour and offer a chance to learn about our collections.

Details of upcoming Insights are now available. They are:

Deviance to Diversity - 9th February, 3pm-4pm (A talk exploring shifts in attitudes to sexuality and gender.)

Theology vs Geology - 23rd February, 6pm-7pm (This presention examines the tension between science and religion in the Victorian era.)

Midwives and Doctors - 8th March 3pm-4pm (Changing perceptions of pregnancy and labour and the roles of the medical professional)

Landscapes of the mind - 29th March please note a slightly later time of 7pm-8pm (How our interpretation of the brain has been influenced by the idea of locations and 'maps'.)

For more details on how to attend the sessions, please follow the links above to the appropriate pages on the Wellcome Collection website.

Wellcome Image L0031643: Photograph of a man with a moustache dressed in women's clothing; he is wearing an exotic costume with corset type belt and tassled skirt, wig and boots.

Gold Country: Some Random Things to Share

Our part of the world is best known for being the place that gold was discovered in California back in 1848. We live very close to the South Fork of the American River and in fact, we spend much of our outdoor time in or around the water of this river. My parents live even closer to the actual gold discovery spot and have remains of an old town where the Chinese workers came to work in the mines and along the river.

The river was used for hydraulic mining which destroyed much of the habitat and you can still see remains of ditches dug for diverting water and piles of river rock where the soil was washed away looking for gold. The scars remain even today.

So much history left behind for us to explore and experience today.


This is an abandoned mine that we discovered on our regular hiking trail. This was taken a month or so ago and we were just there yesterday and it looks very different. The water level has dropped inside the mine and you can step inside a little to check it out. The water is not raining down inside as heavily either. The plants around the opening are getting green and somewhat covering up the entrance.


We took a hike to a different part of the river two weeks ago and it had lots of rocks that looked like this with the quartz encased in the other rocks.


This short video gives you an idea of what the rock and the river is like where we are. In the beginning of the video you will hear my husband's narrative....please know he was trying to be silly. Don't miss me almost falling into the river at one point... the rocks are hard to walk on especially when you are taking a video.


We had packed along our gold pans and the boys tried their hand at finding some gold. No luck this day.


The water was really cold and they decided there is a definite skill to panning. We wondered about the gold miners back in the 1800's and how they must have remained motivated by either their success or the success of others around them. It is back breaking work.


On another hike, we saw this guy alongside the river on the North Fork getting ready to start using his sluice box for gold mining. Here is an easy explanation of how a sluice box works. My husband has used one before and he says it just is an easier way to sift through the gravel looking for flakes of gold. He took a geology class where they actually did gold dredging in this river and he was surprised that there still is quite a bit of gold if you take the time to look for it.


I bet you don't see this very often. We have one place that we like to hike to along the river because it has a perfect spot for skipping rocks when the water is low. We went there the other day and for the first time we saw these signs posted everywhere. I have to do some research because as far as I know, this place is on Bureau of Land Management land which seems like an unlikely place for someone to post a mining claim. Anyone know how that works?
Edit: Here is a link to answer my questions: BLM FAQ

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little glimpse into the gold country around our house. It is something that interests my boys so we might just need to tackle a geology course and use mining as the basis for our study. We already have a ton of rocks that we have collected over the years to study and identify. I should look at it as a project.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Spring Wildflowers-Part 8 Natural Bridge

We had the opportunity to take a drive to a new hiking spot. We live in a pretty special area of California and we can drive an hour or so and find the best adventures. We live in what people affectionately call Gold Country......our house is about 8 miles from where they discovered gold in California and the Gold Rush began.

This time though, we headed about fifty miles south of our house to a place in Calaveras County where there is a natural rock bridge over the river. This well-kept secret location was shared with me by a fellow homeschooler. I tried to Google it and came up with very vague directions but we were determined to try to find this spot.

During that Google search, I found this wonderful account of the place from 1862, complete with illustrations.
Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity in California

Back to the wildflowers.....

We finally found the parking area for the trail and we filled the backpack up with water and a few snacks. Immediately I knew this was going to be a great wildflower hike because the first stretch bordered a little meadow with this view. Purple/blue flowers are Harvest brodiaea. (click to see the flowers better)


Here is the trail as it cuts across a fairly steep section of the hillside. The trail is the dirt path on the top right of the photo. Do you see my boys on the trail? They left us in the dust in a hurry to see the destination. We could hear the river rushing down below but instead of hurrying, my husband and I took our time and also a few photographs. Well, maybe a lot of photos!


It was a fairly easy three quarters of a mile hike down the hillside to the water and along the way it wound through buckeye, red bud, and oaks. On each sunny hillside, we found an abundance of wildflowers. Breathtaking beauty like this doesn't come along everyday and we found ourselves marveling at the vivid colors of the flowers. It is at times like these that you feel impelled to stop and say a little prayer of thanks to our loving Creator....what a garden he has made for us to enjoy.


Purple Chinese Houses


Poppies and Goldfields

Once down to the bottom of the ravine, we found what we had come to see....the natural bridge which looked more like a cave or a tunnel.


The boys decided to wade out into the middle of the mouth of the tunnel and see if they could see the light at the other end. The water was really cold and they moved rather quickly through the shallow water.


It is nearly impossible to give you a really good idea of what the natural bridge is like but this photo shows you a little of the stalactite formations on the ceiling of the bridge. There was water raining down inside and in one area it looked like a cascading waterfall inside.


Here is a close-up of the ceiling showing the stalactite formations. All those lessons in geology paid off and we had some great conversation about how we think this bridge was formed. We talked about limestone and calcium carbonate and springs. We talked about erosion and ground water and water tables. We talked about the difference between stalactites and stalagmites.

We made plans to come back this summer with a headlamp and perhaps a little inflatable raft.


My husband and I had a very relaxing time at the river and the boys had fun exploring the limestone/marble pools and trying to jump across the watery stretches. They were already wet from wading in the tunnel so a little more water fun was okay by me.


Here is another pretty flower we found as we hiked back up the trail. I don't know what it is called yet but I am going to keep on working on identifying it.


Here is one that was blooming along one whole section of the trail. Mustang clover.


Isn't this the best photo? I love how it shows the shape of the plant growing. I am pretty sure this is Caterpillar scorpionweed....what a name!


This is a white variety of lupine growing at the parking spot.


Okay....this one makes me laugh. It is called Pineapple weed. The description says that this plant is not a native plant to California but I see it just about everywhere right now.

I know....how many wildflowers can I cram into this one post? Believe me, there are plenty more but they will have to wait for another time.

I hope you enjoyed viewing some glimpses into our day. I started this post on Monday....we have had some new adventures since this one and I can't wait to share those too.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom