Transcript

The gold nugget is one of the oldest objects in the collections here. It arrived here in 1861. We have a very good paper trail on it. We don't know who collected it here but we do know who gave it to us. There's a letter of transmittal from Captain Joseph Folsom, a quartermaster in the U.S. Army and with it came the nugget. It's a letter of transmittal transmitting the first piece of gold found in northern California, the piece of gold that kicked off the gold rush.