Our members provide a great source of knowledge related to historical issues. Many of their articles have appeared in the Monthly Bulletins and are reproduced here for your information.
As our list of essays has grown quite large, we have recently grouped them into a number of categories. To browse the list of essays in a particular category, just click on the category name, and a list of the essays in that category will appear.
Superior Court Judge Bray was the co-founder of the Contra Costa Historical Society. During the late 1930's and early 40's, Justice Bray gave a series of weekly radio addresses over Station KLX from Oakland, California. Since his essays cover a variety of the categories here, we have kept his addresses in their own category at the bottom of this list.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Contra Costa County and How Lake Tahoe Got Its Name | Bill Mero |
| Snakes in the Grass: Copperheads in Contra Costa? | Bill Mero |
| Death Comes to Contra Costa | Bill Mero |
| Diablo Nationals Fight the Reds | Bill Mero |
| Don Victor Castro Fights the French | Bill Mero |
| Aliens Arrive in Diablo Valley | Dean McLeod |
| Grizzly! | Jacob Wright Harlan |
| Megaflood & Megadrought - How They Changed Contra Costa | Bill Mero |
| Sugar Wars and the Bloody Streets of Crockett | Bill Mero |
| The Great Byron Train Disaster | Bill Mero |
| Christmas 1914 | Melissa Jacobson |
| Gone to the City | Melissa Jacobson |
| Build a Ferry and they will Come | Harriett Burt |
| Surveying the Martinez Town Site More Profitable than Panning for Gold in 1849 | Harriett Burt |
| Nancy Andal Recalls Peace Corps Service With Nancy Boyd | Harriett Burt |
| Unearthing the Past | Melissa Jacobson |
| Holiday Homes & the Home Team | Melissa Jacobson |
| Top Ten Shenanigans Surrounding St. Patrick′s Day, Contra Costa County 1913 | Melissa Jacobson |
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| The First 'Community' of Bay Point | Dean McLeod |
| Historic Martinez Court Houses | Bill Mero |
| Early County Public Schools | Bernard Freedman |
| Remembering Byron Hot Springs | Patricia Frumenti |
| Horse Sense | Andrew H. Young |
| Occupational Snapshots of 1906 Contra Costa County | Bill Mero |
| Paradise Lost: Building a Socialist Utopia in Contra Costa County | Bill Mero |
| Treasure Ship of the Sacramento | Bill Mero |
| Looking Back - "Modest Mansions" Now Martinez Landmarks | Harriett Burt |
| What You Would Have Seen at the John Muir House in 1952 | Harriett Burt |
| The Grange Returns to Martinez | Harriett Burt |
| Ownership - People, Property, and Otherwise | Melissa Jacobson |
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| The Black Hills of Contra Costa County | Bill Mero |
| The Petticoat Navy of Contra Costa County | Bill Mero |
| The Looting of California - Bankers, Corruption and Theft | Bill Mero |
| 'Hang'em High' - Sudden Death In Old Contra Costa | Bill Mero |
| Raid on Marsh Rancho | Bill Mero |
| Making Money | Andrew H. Young |
| Joaquin Murrieta: Literary Fiction or Historical Fact? | Bill Mero |
| Gunfight on Pinole Creek | Bill Mero |
| River Pirates | Bill Mero |
| Likes Murderers: Sheriff Veale Down Under | Bill Mero |
| Once Upon a Time in the West | Bill Mero |
| Still Waters run Deep | Andrew H. Young |
| Ten Days or $10 | Melissa Jacobson |
| Committed: The Unfolding of Human Wreckage | Melissa Jacobson |
| Top Ten Pleas to Reduce Speeding Tickets, circa 1930 | Melissa Jacobson |
| Title | Date Aired | Author |
|---|---|---|
| Charcoal | Nov. 23,1936 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Rancho San Pablo | Dec. 12,1936 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Elam Brown Opposes Dueling in Contra Costa | Feb. 15, 1937 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Indian Exploitation in Contra Costa | Feb. 15, 1937 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Ferry Service | July 19, 1937 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Indian Slavery In Contra Costa County | Feb. 22, 1938 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| The Law and Moraga Women | Mar. 7, 1938 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Mt. Diablo Coal and the Fight Between The Railroads | Aug. 22,1938 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Double-Cross at the Mines | Aug. 14, 1939 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| High Moraga Land Prices | Sep. 4, 1939 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| The Rise and Fall of a Frontier Debating Society | Nov. 13, 1939 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Crockett Land Taxes | Mar. 18, 1940 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| 'Murder,' He Said | May 20, 1940 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Crockett vs. Martinez | Oct. 7, 1940 | Judge A.F. Bray |
| Black Diamond | Oct. 28, 1940 | Judge A.F. Bray |