The California Genealogical Society (CGS) is a

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinsh ...

institution, the oldest and largest in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

."Genealogical Society Marks 110 years of Researching Family", ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

'', 24 February 2008. Founded in 1898, its mission is to aid Californians in tracing family history, through its research services, educational resources, online tools, and genealogical databases. The CGS Research Library, one of the largest on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

, contains over 38,000 reference materials from California and around the world.

History

The California Genealogical Society was founded on February 12, 1898, in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. The society moved from San Francisco to Oakland in 1997. The society's original library was devastated by the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

.California Genealogical Society - History
/ref> By 1913, the society had rebuilt its collection, growing to one of the largest in the West Coast. Between 1913 and 1962, the society's library and collections were housed at various sites in San Francisco, including the

San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center The San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center (SFWMPAC) is located in San Francisco, California. It is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. It covers 7.5 acres (3 hectares) in the Civic Center Historic Distr ...

and the

San Francisco Public Library The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as ''Library Journals L ...

. From 1962 to 1982, the society had an agreement with the

California Historical Society The California Historical Society (CHS) is the official historical society of California. It was founded in 1871, by a group of prominent Californian intellectuals at Santa Clara University. It was officially designated as the Californian state hi ...

to house the CGS collections at the archives of the California Historical Society. Since 2007, the society, its research library, and collections have all been housed in the historic Breuner Building in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

Resources

The CGS website feature
The California Names Index
a free, searchable database containing more than 350,000 names from state, county, and local references found in the library. It is an ongoing project and names are added regularly. The society regularly hosts seminars, genealogical workshops, and members meetings on subjects pertaining to genealogy and the history of prominent Californian figures and families.BayNet - San Francisco Bay Area Library and Information Network: California Genealogical Society and Library
/ref> CGS is a member of the

Federation of Genealogical Societies The Federation of Genealogical Societies was a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded in January 1976 and headquartered in Austin, Texas. FGS links hundreds of U.S.-based genealogy societies and their members. FGS merged with the National Genealo ...

References

External links

Official website

Official blog

Official account
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Official account
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

California Genealogical Society Library Catalog
{{DEFAULTSORT:California Genealogical Society And Library Genealogical societies in the United States Genealogical libraries in the United States Libraries in California 1898 establishments in California Clubs and societies in California Special collections libraries in the United States