California Educational Multimedia (CEM) designs and produces exhibits.  On this page, we display an exhibit on California and the Civil War, featuring graphic panels that we developed. The panels  are available for rental to public and private institutions. They provide the narrative spine of an exhibit that can be enriched by artifacts from local sources. The panels can also stand on their own.

CEM also offers exhibit design services. We can help with the installation of the California and the Civil War exhibit or design custom exhibits. For a sample, please visit our page on the exhibit, Wake Up, America! Nevada County's Experience of the First World War. This exhibit was directed by Linda Jack of the Nevada County Historical Society, funded by a grant from California Humanities.

 The California and the Civil War exhibit begins with Spanish and Mexican colonialism and proceeds with the American Conquest and early statehood. The show tells the surprising story of California's prewar alignment with the South and casts light on the Golden State's ambiguous relationship with the institution of slavery.

In the end, California sided firmly with the Union and contributed both men and treasure to the triumph of the national government, but this result was by no means one-sided nor sure. California's experience of the Civil War is a dramatic tale, filled with strange plot twists and poignant stories.

California and the Civil War at the Folsom History Museum