JoAnn Levy
Author

JoAnn Levy has been writing about western history for nearly twenty years. She is the author of four books on California history and numerous articles in such publications as American History, The Californians, Old West, Overland Journal, and the Museum of California Quarterly. Her book about women in the gold rush entitled They Saw the Elephant was published in 1990 to high praise. The San Francisco Chronicle acclaimed it "one of the best and most comprehensive accounts of gold rush life to date." 

JoAnn has been featured in several TV documentaries on PBS, A&E, TLC, and KNBC-TV. She also was profiled in the Sacramento Bee, the Stockton Review-Journal, Sacramento Magazine, the Auburn Sentinel, and the Mountain Democrat. Radio appearances include NPR’s "Science Friday," "Airtalk," and "Beyond Words."

JoAnn resides in Sutter Creek, in Amador County, California.

 

JoAnn Levy profile - Questions:

When did you arrive in this area?  What were your first impressions?

In 1986 I first drove across the Sierra on Hwy. 88, one of the most scenic roads in the state, to attend an Oregon-California Trails Assn. meeting in Carson City, Nevada. On the return trip across the same route, I stopped to climb part of the emigrant trail at West Pass and was then utterly smitten with the area. I returned to my home in Los Angeles and convinced my husband he had to see what I had seen—the magnificence of the landscape, the grandeur of the mountains, the beauty of alpine lakes. Briefly we considered buying a condo at Kirkwood for vacations. Neither of us ski! We didn’t care, we just wanted an excuse to hike the trails and drink in the wondrous vistas. Eventually (1988) we settled on a vacation home farther down the mountainside, in Calaveras County. We loved being there so much that five years later, when an employment opportunity presented itself, we sold our home in Los Angeles and moved here permanently.  As it turned out to be inconvenient to commute from ‘upcountry,’ we soon bought a home in Sutter Creek, where we have been charmed ever since.

Describe what you do. 

I write about women in the California gold rush. That momentous and memorable first crossing on Hwy. 88 was part of my research. I wanted to see the landscape the emigrants saw, experience the climb and the descent, imagine their feelings not only through their diaries and letters but through the sense of sight. My first book, They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush, conveys, I hope, some of that shared feeling. My third book, I believe, captures it best. In For California’s Gold I tried to get inside the experience, imagine it first hand, through a woman’s eyes, a woman invented for the purpose but typical of the real-life women who made that remarkable journey. In the character of Sarah Daniels I attempted to express all the hopes and fears, joys and travails so many women, and men, experienced during this historic event.

The “real-life” women are, of course, the focus of my work, of my attempt to correct misunderstandings about women’s role in California history and to gain for them an over-due acknowledgment for their accomplishments. Among those women are three whose lives struck me as so absolutely deserving of recognition I felt duty-bound to write their stories. In Daughter of Joy, A Novel of Gold Rush San Francisco, I hope I’ve brought to the prostitute Ah Toy a respect equal to my admiration for her, and for all the Chinese emigrants whose participation in California’s gold rush so enriches this state’s history.

My fourth book, Unsettling the West: Eliza Farnham and Georgiana Bruce Kirby, a dual biography of two of the most amazing women most people never heard of, is my particular joy, especially in telling just some of the amazing Eliza Farnham’s contribution to California history, to America’s history, and most particularly to women’s history. It has been a special privilege to have known this astonishing 19th century woman, if only through her writings and the footprints of her life. Indeed, all of my work has been personally gratifying. I am thrilled that my subject waited for me.

Who or what are inspirations for your work?

I am indebted to gold-rush historian J. S. Holliday, whose 1981 seminal work, The World Rushed In, inspired me to search for the women I knew must have participated in California’s great event. I feel privileged indeed to have provided a footnote, as it were, to his fine work, by directing a belated attention to gold-rushing women. After Jim Holliday, my inspiration was, first, Eliza Farnham, and then all the women whose stories begged to be told.  It’s been my pleasure and good fortune to tell them.

What are your plans for the future?

After nearly twenty-five years, it’s possible that my researching and writing about gold-rush women may be done. Perhaps not. I never say never.  I still have a couple of projects I’d like to complete, and I’m thrilled to have been invited to Villa Montalvo as an artist-in-residence in order to pursue them.

Also, I’ve discovered that bringing these women’s words and stories directly to audiences is surprisingly satisfying. Initially, I was a reluctant public speaker but I’ve come to an appreciation of the spoken word as a powerful way to share my enthusiasm for my subject. And audiences have been so responsive and encouraging that it’s become a pleasure to interact so directly.  Now I’m considering developing a Chautauqua presentation, appearing as Eliza Farnham “in person” to share the notable accomplishments of this extraordinary woman.

What is your favorite spot in the region?  Why?

I have many, not least of them my own home. Even after 12 years, I’m still besotted by the view from my windows, in all directions. I’m privileged to have the ruins of a gold mine visible from my livingroom, and the picturesque town of Sutter Creek from my deck.

Of course, Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park at Coloma holds a special place in my heart, and the scenic wonders of West Pass and Highway 88 never pall.  For a remote and marvelous Sierra experience, I treasure the Rich Bar area in the Feather River Canyon, where the railroad tracks cling so precariously and tenaciously from bluffs above the river.  What bravery built them!  And, of course, the railroad over the Sierra from Colfax through Truckee to Nevada is a wonder. To take the train across in snow-shrouded winter, seeing the pass all in white and imagining the hardship and courage of those heroic builders of the transcontinental railroad is always a thrill.  And, then, for a near-spiritual experience, for a natural grandeur without parallel, it’s difficult to surpass Big Trees State Park.  And then, who can not say it, there’s Yosemite…..

Why do you think this region holds such a fascination for people?

The beauty is irrefutable, overwhelming. One need but open one’s eyes. I think of the impoverished gold rusher who lost all his worldly goods on the trail, suffered terribly, and then arrived at the Sierra summit where, awestruck, he said of the view that “it paid him for all his hardships.”

Entwined with the beauty is history, the imprint on the land, both physically and emotionally, of the thousands of people impelled by hope and possibility to seek the West, to come to California.  That siren call still sounds. We are privileged to live in a magic place.

If you had to describe your feelings about the Sierra Nevada region in one word (or a few words), what would you say?

I am endlessly enchanted, and grateful.