The San Francisco Historical Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, interpretation, and presentation of the history of San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area. 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 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 to create the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, which the San Francisco municipal government recognized as the official historical museum 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 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
- ^ "About the Society". San Francisco Historical Society. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
- "Minutes of the November 14, 2002 Meeting". San Francisco Museum and Historical Society Advisory Committee. November 14, 2002. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "Resolution recognizing and supporting the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society as the official historical museum of the City and County of San Francisco (Resolution Number 145-02)" (PDF). San Francisco Board of Supervisors. January 29, 2002. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
- Martinfield, Seán (November 21, 2007). "The Old Mint – Breathing New Life Into "The Granite Lady"". San Francisco Sentinel. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
- "Our Plan". San Francisco Museum at the Mint. San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015.
- Nolte, Carl (March 21, 2015). "End of the line for S.F. group trying to restore the Old Mint". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
- Johnson, Lizzie (April 1, 2016). "California Historical Society to take on fixing up the Old Mint". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
- Compare the logo on the home page of the San Francisco Historical Society on January 22, 2019 to March 16, 2019, via the Internet Archive
- Nolte, Carl (October 5, 2019). "S.F.'s newest museum is opening in the city's oldest mint". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
- "Museum". San Francisco Historical Society. Retrieved March 14, 2021.