ABOUT CFHI:

Established in 1997, the California Foundry History Institute (CFHI) is a non-profit educational organization incorporated in the state of California and dedicated to the collection and preservation of historical records pertaining to the history of the foundry industry in California.

An important part of this work is the recording, preservation, indexing and transcription of oral interviews with the men and women who have played a significant role in the development of the foundry industry in California.

CFHI also collects and preserves documents, photographs, artifacts and ephemera related to the history of foundries in California. Much of this historical information can be seen at the two CFHI museums in Lodi and McClellan (near Sacramento). The McClellan museum participates in Sacramento county’s annual Museum Day where hundreds of visitors tour Sacramento’s museums.

CFHI is a member of the Sacramento Association of Museums (SAM) and has been a resource for other metalworking museums around the nation, most recently with the Mobile Alabama Museum (read article). And CFHI helps local charities, such as Make A Wish, find castings, such as a custom brass school bell for a child’s schoolhouse (read article).

OTHER CFHI ACTIVITIES:

CFHI is the repository for our state’s foundry history archives.

CFHI maintains a storage unit for archives received.

CFHI records archives in the CFHI archival system.

CFHI’s maintains 2 state foundry museums (Lodi and McClellan/Sacramento).

CFHI co-hosts Sacramento’s Free Museum Day

CFHI hosts an annual benefit Golf Tournament in Sacramento.

CFHI publishes an annual calendar which is sold at the Annual Meeting in May.

CFHI hosts educational tours for local schools and groups at our museums.

CFHI assists other museums around the nation with display needs.

CFHI is pursuing an archival transfer to a state university for future archiving and resourcing.

CFHI’s Endowment Fund helps with the the CFHI budget needs.