The San Francisco Historical Society is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

dedicated to the preservation, interpretation, and presentation of the history of

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 ...

and the surrounding

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. It is a membership-based organization that holds monthly speaking programs, conducts walking tours of San Francisco and publishes original research. It owns the

Barbary Coast Trail The Barbary Coast Trail is a marked trail that connects a series of historic sites and several local history museums in San Francisco, California. Approximately 180 bronze medallions and arrows embedded in the sidewalk mark the 3.8-mile (6.1 ...

walking tour and publishes the biannual journal ''Argonaut''. As of 2021, it has just under 2,000 members.

History

The San Francisco Historical Society was founded in 1988 by historian Charles A. Fracchia. In February 2002, the San Francisco Historical Society merged with the

Museum of the City of San Francisco The Museum of the City of San Francisco is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit museum containing a collection of historic artifacts related to San Francisco. It was founded by Gladys Hansen, who was the city archivist of San Francisco. The executiv ...

to create the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, which the San Francisco municipal government recognized as the official

historical museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

of San Francisco. One of the purposes of the merger of the two organizations was to put together a single proposal to renovate and operate 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 ...

as a history museum. The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society took over management of the Old Mint in 2004, with plans to make it the museum's permanent home. The organization spent about US$14 million to stabilize and partially renovate the building. However, the building still needed about US$60 million in additional work, and the City of San Francisco concluded the organization was not making progress quickly enough after 11 years of work, so it ordered SFMHS to vacate the building in 2015. In 2019, the San Francisco Historical Society returned to its original name. In October of that year, the society moved into its first museum space, at 608 Commercial Street, in San Francisco.

References

External links

San Francisco Historical Society
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Failed museum proposals in the United States Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco Historical societies in California History of San Francisco