It’s the end of an era for the Turlock Journal. For the past 26 years, Scott Atherton has volunteered his time and expertise in curating the Journal’s “This Week in History” page that runs every Saturday. After a quarter of a century helping Journal readers connect with their collective history, Atherton will submit his final history page in July.

Atherton, a founding member of the Turlock Historical Society, said his love of local history started at the Turlock Journal as a boy.

“The catalyst that got me going was the Turlock Journal. The Turlock Journal came out on Nov. 10, 1964 with a special history edition and my family’s business was next door…,” said Atherton.

He went on to tell a story about being interested in why some downtown Turlock buildings were no longer standing, and his parents encouraged him to go ask the Journal staff next door. When Atherton was able to get ahold of some pre-1900 photos, he was forever hooked on history. He said that his love of history was further encouraged by other local historians, namely former Turlock historian Mike Ertmoed, and Carlo De Ferrari, the former official historian of Tuolumne County.

Not only has Atherton brought a little history to Journal readers every week, but he also has been the featured speaker at a series of historical museum public lectures. On Thursday, Atherton spoke to a packed room at the Carnegie Arts Center about the community and culture of Turlock during the 1930s.

Atherton’s presentation was made possible because a stack of undeveloped negatives taken by former Turlocker Ernest Forsmark was found in the belongings of Richard Soderquist.

“Little by little, we had them developed. And what’s really been interesting is to take that event, what the photograph was taken for, and putting the story for it,” he said.

To Atherton, every single photo — from statewide historic events like the hunger marchers in the early 1930s who stopped in Turlock’s Central Park on their way from Los Angeles to Sacramento, to the family photos that tell the story of what life was like throughout the decades — deserves to be preserved for future generations.

“I’ve heard so many heartfelt stories and with the different cultural groups, the Mexican community, the Japanese community, and then talking to others, the Assyrians, the Armenians…Turlock really is a microcosm of a melting pot,” said Atherton.

Atherton said he sees a future for Turlock’s history, with digitation efforts and a partnership with Stanislaus State, but also with the continuation of the Turlock History Museum.

“I think what people are missing out on, what I think they’ll enjoy, is the hands-on experience where you can hold these pictures. Not everything’s on the computer, right?”