Amador County – The Amador County Historical Society officially opened its downtown office and Visitor Center Saturday, with an aim to make the history of Amador and the region more accessible. ACHS board member Jerry Chaix and 2 other volunteers were in the office Friday, at 1 Main Street, a street-level storefront that looks out onto the historic National Hotel, and is a few doors down from Wells Fargo Bank. They had a row of boxes from Amador County Archive founder Larry Cenotto, and illustrations of local and regional landmarks. Those include a drawing by Amador artist Larry Schuman, which Cenotto helped in designing through research, to depict the city of Jackson after the fire of 1862. Cenotto’s book, Logan’s Alley, Volume 2, describes the illustration and the few surviving buildings in downtown Jackson. Another remnant is a poster from the 1969 Gold Rush Rock Festival at Lake Amador. The concert featured Santana, Ike & Tina Turner, Taj Mahal and Bo Diddley, with a reported turnout of 50,000 people. The shelves include books on local history, and the computer includes a searchable PDF file indexing historical documents in the Archives. Chaix said “to me, this is the most important thing we have.” Chaix said people can search names and find document numbers, then make an appointment to visit the archives. Judy Jebian, volunteer office manager said the long-range goal of the Amador Historical Society is to get the archives online. Volunteer Marian Randolph said “everything was thrown in the basement of the museum (and) Larry’s the one who set up the archives.” It is now operated by volunteers, after the county government stopped funding it. Chaix said “this index is what makes it accessible, and the county stopped running it, so we’re going to start.” He said the society’s “major focus is getting the museum open and supporting the archives.” Jebian said they are trying to build up their membership now, so they can fundraise for the Museum. She said they “just got permission to access the building with consultants,” so they can assess what needs to be done. The historical society has more than 200 members, and a 15-member board, which recently was expanded to be a 25-member board. The visitor center is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For information, call (209) 625-0658 or see amadorhistoricalsociety.com. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.