I enjoy doing research and sharing the results, and this has led me into giving talks as well as writing. Here is a list of presentations on which I’ve spoken. Keep in mind that my research is always generating new topics, and I can also tailor a topic to a particular audience if requested. Each talk includes a PowerPoint slide show.

COMING SOON
How Water Changed San Diego: A History

A History of Immigration
Concerned about foreigners not learning English and taking our jobs? Benjamin Franklin was too.
Back in 1753, he feared Pennsylvania was being overrun by Germans. Similar things have been
said over the last 250 years about the Irish, the Italians, the Jews and the Chinese, among others.
Vincent Rossi offers an overview of the history of immigration illustrated with photos and documents drawn from his research into both American history and his own Italian-immigrant roots.

Eating Local in the Roaring Twenties
San Diego City and County grew enormously in population in the decade of the 1920s, and it
showed in what was on the menu at local restaurants, on residents’ home tables, and in the fields
of local farmers. Historian Vincent Rossi shows how San Diego fed itself and the nation, one
hundred years ago.

For Pleasure and Health: San Diego’s Tourism History
19th century books and magazines heavily promoted southern California’s fertile land, scenery and
healthy climate. San Diego City and County Directories of the period are filled with ads for health
resorts and philosophical societies as well as land companies. Vincent Rossi will provide visual and
narrative examples of the movement to sell San Diego as a place to get well and get wealthy.

From Measures to Missiles
From 1951 to 1971 a government laboratory in Corona gathered some of the most brilliant scientists in service to the national defense. Vincent Rossi will discuss his book, From Measures to
Missiles, which tells the lab’s story.

Homefront San Diego in World War II
The City of San Diego was profoundly changed by World War II. The population nearly doubled
between 1940 and 1943. During that period, 1,500 people per week were moving into San Diego
and entire new neighborhoods, such as Linda Vista, grew up. Balboa Park was rapidly transformed

into a navy training base and San Diego became a hub for military activity in the Pacific. This talk
includes a slide show with newspaper headlines, photos and newsreel footage from the period.

North County: A Look Back
Vincent Rossi has uncovered a lot of history on north San Diego County, including lost landmarks such as the Escondido Tepee and even lost towns like Barham and Bernardo. Learn about
pioneer settlers like Sig Steiner of Escondido, Gustavus Merriam of San Marcos, and Enos
Mendenhall of Palomar Mountain. Discover a place where the livestock outnumbered the people
and today’s Cal State San Marcos campus was a chicken ranch.

Picturesque San Diego: Images and Stories From the Past
Picturesque San Diego is a book published in 1887 by Douglas Gunn, a former San Diego Union
Editor and former San Diego mayor. The book is lavishly illustrated with photos of places
throughout the county taken by one of the most prominent photographers of the day. Vincent
Rossi’s Power Point slide show features many of the photos along with text written by Gunn describing a much more rural, and much less populated place than today’s county.

Political Parties in the United States
Our “Two-Party System” hasn’t always consisted of the same two parties. Did you know the Republicans started out as a “third party?” George Washington wanted to avoid parties altogether.
Vincent Rossi presents a brief history of the evolution of political parties in our country’s history.

Rancho Bernardo: From Indian Village to Big City Neighborhood
Vincent Rossi traces the history of one San Diego neighborhood from seasonal indigenous villages to ranchland to the planned community of today.

The Census in History/The Census as History
The U.S. Census, taken every ten years, offers historical snapshots of a given time and place.
We’ll discuss the census from 1790 to 1950 and the history it reveals.

The Lost Towns of San Diego County
The history of San Diego County includes accounts of numerous towns and villages which no
longer physically exist as separate entities. Communities like Bernardo, Merton, Stowe and
Bostonia disappeared decades ago. Yet these places once bustled with life, each boasting its own
school, general store, often a stagecoach or railroad stop. Historian Vincent Rossi will share photos, maps and stories of daily life in a different era from his research into these lost towns.

The Nation’s Library: The Story of the Library of Congress
It started out as Thomas Jefferson’s book collection but became the American people’s, an ever

evolving treasure trove of books, photos and all kinds of media. Historian and researcher Vincent
Rossi will share slides showing some examples of what the library has preserved and offers to the
public, from early maps and oral histories to a pre-World War I Krazy Cat cartoon. And those are
just a few examples! (Please note this presentation requires a strong reliable internet connection as it is heavily reliant on audio and video recordings from the Library of Congress.)

The Nation’s Record Keeper
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the repository for all important
records involving the federal government. Many people know it as the home of the original
copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, but NARA
also holds copies of documents important to individual and family history as well, such as immigration, naturalization, and military records, many of them now accessible online. Historian Vincent Rossi offers insights into the history of NARA and the records it holds.

What’s In A Name? A Lot of History: Origins of San Diego County Place Names
Santee was once Cowlestown. Know where Smith Mountain is? The mountain’s still there, but
under a different name. There’s a story behind every place name, past and present, from Gopher
Canyon to Kettner Boulevard to a post office named Nellie. Vincent Rossi shares some of those
stories from his research into county history.

When the Livestock Outnumbered the Humans: Our County’s Agricultural History
More farm animals than people? There was such a time in San Diego County. Vincent Rossi has
the numbers to prove it with stories and slides from his research into San Diego County’s agricultural history and the role agriculture still plays in our lives.

https://sandiegohistoryseeker.com
858.245.8258

vincentnrossi86@gmail.com