Go to Court and Learn about local history

Thanks to an innovative program started by Hon. Judge Breyer of the U.S. District Courts' 9th District in San Francisco, their jury room rooms, public corridors and selected chambers areas are adorned with restored historical photographs with educational narratives telling colorful stories of Bay Area History.   The project began in 2002, and culminated this summer with the an installation covering three floors of the Oakland Federal building, featuring Oakland, Alameda and Contra Costa County history.  Lawyers, their clients, jurors, and visitors learn about the Transcontinental railroads, the Key system, University of Berkeley, Oakland Airport, development of agriculture, coal, logging and other industries, dynamite in Hercules, the "Detroit of the West", Liberty Ships, the Cyclotron, Lake Merritt, waterfront development, water systems, bridges, the Mission system and even Charlie Chaplin in Niles.

 Business Image Group and Eco Framing designed and produced educational local history exhibits that are now installed throughout their facilities in the Bay Area-about 800 pieces each with detailed narrative and caption so the viewer learns about the rich history of the 9th District.

The project culminated at the Oakland Federal Building in July 2010 with a dual Alameda and Contra Costa County exhibit program for the public areas and chambers.   Other locations include the San Francisco Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate and the San Jose facility on 2nd Street. 

The program was designed and produced by San Francisco photographer, archivist and designer, Bennett Hall and his partner Helen Rischbieth of Business image Group, (BIG) who worked in concert with the US District Court Judges in their respective areas: Hon. Judge Breyer, San Francisco, Hon. Judge Lloyd and Hon. Judge Seeborg, San Jose, and Hon. Judge Jensen in Oakland.  Production was done locally, including custom framing made in BIG's San Francisco shop Eco Framing, the latest project employing U.S. grown and manufactured frame moulding made using FSC certified methods.  The emphasis was on producing this project in the most 'carbon neutral' manner possible, combined with using materials that were made in America.

The Oakland phase was overseen by nationally known Hon. Judge Jensen, who worked with us on the storyboard, outlining the milestones of Alameda and Contra Costa's History, curatorial selection of individual pictures, and senior review of the narratives.  Hon. Judge Breyer continued his lead role in the program's direction and specifications.

The program was created using state of the art digitization and restoration methods as well as custom framing that employed "green best practices".  Images were scanned & restored from vintage materials at the highest practical resolution to ensure the best possible print. Final prints are made using HP's 12-color pigmented, z3200ps ink archival fine art printer, rated by Wilhelm Imaging Research for 200 years. http://www.wilhelm-research.com/hp/Z3200.html

Content for the program was drawn from a variety of local sources including the Oakland History Room, Contra Costa Historical Society, Port of Oakland, the Bancroft Library, Cargill Salt, Clorox, California Images, Marge Callow Collection, the Diehl Collection, Maritime Museum, San Jose and San Francisco public library, San Francisco Images, History San Jose, Pat Hathaway collection, and the Santa Cruz Public Library. 

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Program Overview - Main BIG Web site
BIG transforms the facility experience with strategic planned exhibits, artwork, graphics, signage and visual communication systems.

Article for Mercury News, 2008: San Jose Program with interview with Hon. Judge Breyer
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Eco Framing provide fulfillment with custom framing solutions for enterprise, health care, hospitality and government clients, employing "green best practices" in all details of their workflow.
Eco Framing blog
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Selected content from the exhibits are now available to everyone directly through our web galleries.
San Francisco web galleries

California Web Galleries:
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California Images Blog