Virtually Tour This Historic Room
This office is preserved to show visitors what the Treasurer’s offices looked like at the turn of the twentieth century, and is available as a virtual tour.
The 1906 Treasurer’s Office is a recreation of the workspace as it existed during the tenure of State Treasurer Truman Reeves, who occupied the position from 1899 to 1907. Reeves, a Civil War veteran and amputee, conducted the daily business of his office at a time when the large, walk-in iron vault held $8 million dollars’ worth of gold. Reeves oversaw a staff of eight, including a clerk and four armed guards or “watchmen.”
The office of the State Treasurer was originally established in 1850 to collect taxes and guard California’s money. In the early twentieth century, a series of California Bank Acts significantly expanded the Treasurer’s role by allowing state funds to be deposited into commercial banks. The 1907 Bank Act enabled the state funds held in private banks to earn interest and the State Treasurer was installed as the overseer of these investments. Today the Treasurer is also responsible for raising revenue for the state by selling bonds and, as the Chairperson of the Pooled Money Investment Board, overseeing the investment of inactive funds. The State Treasurer has been the chief banker for the state of California for over 150 years.
Listen to an audio recording about the Historic Treasurer’s Office
