The Betsy Ross Of the Bears Resources

Study Guides

Note: All study guides and sources are in PDF format.

• Teachers’ Guide

Web Links

A good place to start

• The West
  This is the site for the PBS series The West. It has a fine overview and many pages directly relevant to the period of the play.

Sites on the Bartleson-Bidwell Party and the Period before the Mexican American war

• San Francisco Museum
  This is one of Bidwell’s accounts of the journey that Nancy Kelsey shared and the period before the Gold Rush. The site has many fine links to other primary sources on the Early U.S. period.
• Library of Congress
  This is the home page for the “California as I Saw It” section of the Library of Congress web site. From here you can find dozens of primary sources, including Bidwell’s memoir, Jessie Benton Fremont’s writing on California, J. Ross Browne (who was the secretary at the California Constitutional Convention), Dame Shirley (under Clappe, Louisa) and many more.
• Kit Carson — PBS Series The West
  This article tells the story of Kit Carson’s relationship with Captain Fremont during the Bear Flag Revolt.

Sites for the Mexican American War

• The History Guy
  A brief outline of the Mexican American War with links to other relevant sites.
• The U.S.-Mexican War — PBS
  Extensive PBS site on the Mexican American War.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
  The treaty which ended the war.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – Grand Canyon Site
  Links to relevant Education & Government sites relating to the treaty.
• The Bear Flag Revolt
  A summary of the Mexican American War in California.

Sites for the Indians the Kelseys would have Dealt With

• Pomo People: Brief History
  This site on Pomo history and culture deals with both the past and the survival of the culture today.
• Index of “The North American Indian”
  This is the tribal index page for the E.S. Curtis collection. Curtis was the great photographer of Indians a hundred years ago. Scroll down to the contents for Volume 14 to link to major California groups. It was the Pomo on whose land the Kelseys lived in Sonoma and Clear Lake. The coast and lake Miwok lived near by. There are some excellent old images on these pages.