The California Historical Society (CHS) is the official historical society of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was founded in 1871, by a group of prominent Californian intellectuals at Santa Clara University.Irvine, Leigh. "A History of the New California", 1903
/ref>California Historical Society - About
/ref> It was officially designated as the Californian state historical society in 1979."About"
California Historical Society website Its headquarters are in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, though it hosts exhibits and collections across California.

History

The California Historical Society was founded in June 1871 by a group of prominent Californian politicians and professors at the Santa Clara University (then the College of Santa Clara), led by Californian Assemblyman John W. Dwinelle (an influential founder of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

). The stated mission of the society was “collecting and bringing to light and publishing, from time to time, all information not generally accessible on the subject of the early colonization and settlement of the west coast of America, and especially Northwestern Mexico, California, and Oregon. The society published 32 papers until 1901. From 1901 to 1906, the CHS temporarily merged with the California Genealogical Society. Following the devastation of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the society fell into dormancy until 1922. In 1922, the society was permanently reestablished by Templeton Crocker, famed expeditionary of the

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 1853 ...

. In 1979 the organization was named the official state historical society, in a bill signed by Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...

."About"
California Historical Society website The Society maintains a collection of historical documents, photographs, art and other research materials, awards the annual California Historical Society Book Prize, and publishes ''California History'', an academic journal, in association with the

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...

. It occasionally hosts C-SPAN lectures on California history. Exhibitions have included a 2015 celebration at the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...

of the centenary of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and the Society sponsored the 50th anniversary celebration of the Summer of Love in 2017. It hosts educational events as well as exhibitions at its San Francisco headquarters. After offering that building for sale to reduce costs, it plans to house its research library and store its collection in dispersed locations and organize touring exhibitions that will appear at venues including local historical societies throughout the state. However, it remained in that location, with a new exhibition, as of January 2021. The Society's executive director is Alicia Goehring, who was hired in September 2019 after Anthea Hartig became director of the National Museum of American History.

Locations

Shortly after its most recent refounding in 1922, the Society leased Room 508 of the Wells Fargo Building (at Second and Mission) as its headquarters. Subsequently, the Society moved its offices to 456 McAllister (sharing the Pioneer Hall building near City Hall with the Society of California Pioneers) in 1938 and the

Flood Building The Flood Building is a 12-story highrise located at 870 Market Street on the corner of Powell Street in the downtown shopping district of San Francisco, California completed in 1904 and designed by Albert Pissis. Situated on Powell and Market s ...

as a temporary home in 1955 when the Pioneer society was expanding. The society bought the Whittier Mansion in

Pacific Heights Pacific Heights is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, and the Presidio. The Pacific Heights Residents Association defines the neig ...

as its headquarters in 1956, subsequently adding an adjacent building. In 1993 it sold both and bought the San Francisco Builders Exchange Building, which had housed E. M. Hundley Hardware and served as headquarters for Nancy Pelosi's first campaign for Congress; the building was gutted and rehabilitated, and the Society moved in 1995. In 2012, when the Golden Gate Bridge was 75 years old, the Society had its facade painted

international orange International orange is a color used in the aerospace industry to set objects apart from their surroundings, similar to safety orange, but deeper and with a more reddish tone. Variations of international orange Aerospace The Advanced C ...

, the color of the bridge. For several years the Society studied the feasibility of moving to the

Old San Francisco Mint The Old San Francisco Mint (also Old United States Mint or simply Old Mint, nicknamed The Granite Lady) is a building that served as the location of the San Francisco branch of the United States Mint from 1874 until 1937. The building is one of ...

building, which would be renovated to house a museum and a community center. In July 2020 the Society announced that it was planning to sell its headquarters building, however, the Society remains in the Builders Exchange Building. File:Historic Wells Fargo Building (85 2nd St) in San Francisco.jpg, Wells Fargo Building, headquarters 1922 to 1938 File:Flood Building from A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results (1906) (14766289272) crop.jpg,

, 1955 (photo: 1906) File:Whittier Mansion (San Francisco).jpg, Whittier Mansion, 1956–95 (photo: 1960) File:2017 California Historical Society 678 Mission Street.jpg, Builders Exchange, 1995–2021 (photo: 2017)

Collections

'April Showers, Napa Valley' by Jules Tavernier, c

Mission Santa Clara padrón (14299093844)

The California Historical Society Collection represents the environmental, economic, social, political, and cultural heritage of the state of California, including materials from outside California that contribute to a greater understanding of the state and its people. The collection includes 50,000 volumes of books and pamphlets; 4,000 manuscript collections; 500,000 photographs; printed ephemera, periodicals, posters, broadsides, maps, and newspapers; the Kemble Collection on Western Printing and Publishing; 5,000 works of art, including paintings, drawings, and lithographs; and numerous artifacts and costumes.

Fine Art Collection

The Historical Society houses an outstanding collection of over 5,000 works of art, including paintings, drawings, and lithographs. Artists represented in the Fine Art Collection include

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not ...

Maynard Dixon Maynard Dixon (January 24, 1875 – November 11, 1946) was an American artist. He was known for his paintings, and his body of work focused on the American West. Dixon is considered one of the finest artists having dedicated most of their art o ...

, George Albert Frost, William Hahn, Thomas Hill, Grace Carpenter Hudson, William Keith,

Arthur Frank Mathews Arthur F. Mathews (October 1, 1860 – February 19, 1945) was an American Tonalist painter who was one of the founders of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Trained as an architect and artist, he and his wife Lucia Kleinhans Mathews had a s ...

, and

Theodore Wores Theodore Wores (August 1, 1859 – September 11, 1939) was an American painter born in San Francisco, son of Joseph Wores and Gertrude Liebke. His father worked as a hat manufacturer in San Francisco. Life Wores began his art training at age t ...

Manuscripts Collection

The Historical Society holds the papers of noteworthy organizations and businesses, including those of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

of Northern California, League of Women Voters, California Tomorrow, Stern Grove Festival Association,

Peoples Temple The Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, originally Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church and commonly shortened to Peoples Temple, was an American new religious organization which existed between 1954 and 1978. Founded in Indianapolis, Ind ...

, and the Heller Ehrman law firm. The Society also holds the papers of influential persons, including the Burr-Allyne Family, San Francisco Mayor James Rolph, Jr,

Asbury Harpending Asbury Harpending (September 14, 1839 – January 26, 1923) was an adventurer and financier in San Francisco, California, Mexico, and New York City. Early life Harpending was born in Hopkinsville in Christian County in southwestern Kentucky. At th ...

, and Isaias W. Hellman. (Reginaldo F

Ephemera Collection

The ephemera collection consists of a wide range of ephemera pertaining to the state of California and each of its constituent counties. Dating from 1841 the collection includes ephemera created by or related to churches; civic associations and activist groups; clubs and societies, especially fraternal organizations; labor unions; auditoriums and theaters; historic buildings, landmarks, and museums; hotels and resorts; festivals and fairs; sporting events; hospitals, sanatoriums, prisons, and orphanages; schools, colleges, and universities; government agencies; elections, ballot measures, and political parties; infrastructure and transit systems; geographic features; and other subjects. Lemon crate label, Southern Cross brand, Western Litho

Lemon crate label, Southern Cross brand, Western Litho

In 1964, former Society president, printing historian, and collector George L. Harding founded the Kemble Collection on Western Printing and Publishing, named in honor of pioneer California printer and publisher Edward Cleveland Kemble. Dedicated to the history of printing and publishing in the West, this collection began with three major gifts—Harding's printing and publishing library, William E. Loy's typographical library, and the business archives of San Francisco printing firm Taylor & Taylor—and has since grown in size and scope.

Photography Collection

The Historical Society holds documentary and fine art photographs by photographers such as Marliese Gabrielson,

Arnold Genthe Arnold Genthe (8 January 1869 – 9 August 1942) was a German-American photographer, best known for his photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and his portraits of noted people, from politicians and sociali ...

, Louis Herman Heller,

Eadweard Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first ...

, Anton Wagner,

Carleton Watkins Carleton E. Watkins (1829–1916) was an American photographer of the 19th century. Born in New York, he moved to California and quickly became interested in photography. He focused mainly on landscape photography, and Yosemite Valley was a ...

, Minor White and Willard Worden.

References

External links

Official websiteCalifornia Historical Society Digital LibraryCalifornia Historical Society Collections
at the

Online Archive of California The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management a ...

California Historical Society Collection
at

Calisphere The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management a ...

{{Authority control State historical societies of the United States History of California Museums in San Francisco Museums established in 1871 Historical society museums in California Libraries in San Francisco 1871 establishments in California Clubs and societies in California Financial District, San Francisco Special collections libraries in the United States