The Foundation will present the stories of two Elk Grove area pioneer families: The Edgingtons and the Springsteds. The stories of these families trace their travels and history beginning in Europe, to the American Colonies between 1652 and 1721, their involvement in numerous historic events and moments in early North America, through their generational migration west, eventually crossing the plains in the 1860s and 1870s to settle in Elk Grove.

Each story was extensively researched by combing through public and archival records, newspaper accounts, and reviewing personal letters, photographs, diaries, and personal mementos. Like the stories of more recent arrivals to Elk Grove, what is revealed is the richness of history and culture brought to Elk Grove by these early settlers, whose stories reflect over 300 years of the American Experience.

Andrei Pischalnikoff has been a storyteller using various media for many years.  With a previous background in helping people to accept technology changes (at a workplace of over 4,000 employees) and creating persuasive public media messages, he has enjoyed researching the historic marketing work of P.T. Barnum and the patent medicine industries of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Andrei has also dabbled in being a docent and living history performer.  Andrei visits the patent medicine, quackery collections and the archives at theSierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society  Andrei also spends time in the Amador County of California, listening to the historians and volunteers who create events celebrating the past. Andrei portrayed a Kickapoo Medicine Showman at the 49er Wagon Train Days in April 2023 and did a presentation at the Kennedy Mine of Jackson in May of 2023.

Andrei has a passion sharing his knowledge with a specialized focus on the audience’s interests.  Another passion is sharing advice on collecting artifacts, telling audiences “I am going to share with you, what I wish I could have told myself years ago when I started collecting”.

He collects various patent medicine artifacts, strange devices that claimed to cure serious diseases and a variety of ephemera related to quackery and deception.  His interests extend to hoaxes, oddities and strange items of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

The Dr. R. Snick Poisons and Cures Show