For the past several years, the Sacramento Public Library has collected archived articles and documents from American River College and The Current. The Sacramento Room of the Sacramento Public Library holds all of these documents that show the history of ARC dating back to the 1970s.

According to James Scott, a Special Collections archivist of the Sacramento Public Library, the library has a number of documents from ARC and The Current that have been submitted or purchased by former ARC students over the years.

“Items come to us in donations from former students and faculty or we take a look at local antique or paper dealers,” Scott said in an email to the Current. “We even spend money on eBay from time to time.”

Scott says they have many ARC documents that document the past events that have occurred at ARC. One of the archived articles, for example, is from the campus newspaper when it was called The Beaver, published on Dec. 7, 1973. The issue includes articles about the energy crisis as well as a promotion for the ARC theater department’s production of“Visions of Christ.” Scott encourages students to view the documents for themselves in order to learn more about the history of ARC. 

“It is an exquisite spot that can turn into a rabbit hole, but certainly in the best of ways,” Scott said. “The Sacramento Room is all about discovery and many times it’s through absolute serendipity.”

The Sac Room digitizes most but not all of the documents that are submitted to the library. Scott says the best way to see all of the documents is to visit the library in person but students can also view the ARC digitized documents through the Sacramento Public Library website. 

“We have digitized a few items from ARC, so students can simply go to our digital collections on our website. However, not everything is digitized like the Riparian and several of ARC’s terrific literary journals so they can also come into the Sacramento Room,” Scott said. 

Students do not need a library card in order to access the documents, but it would be more beneficial, Scott added. Not only will students have access to former ARC documents, but they will be able to look at former documents and articles from over a decade ago from big media outlets. 

“Just by virtue of being a California state resident they can get a card and access the digital versions of the Sacramento Bee and New York Times all the way back to the mid-1850s, not to mention the fantastic fiction and non-fiction content that they can access through Hoopla and Overdrive,” Scott added.

The Sacramento Room is located on the second floor at Central Library and set in the original 1918 Carnegie-funded library. The library is open daily from 1-6 p.m., except on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays.

To view the documents about ARC or other articles about the history of Sacramento, visit the Sacramento Public Library digital archive here.