California Historical Society

The California Historical Society (CHS) is a museum established to commemorate and enlighten people with California’s prosperous history. It is located in the Yerba Buena district in San Francisco. The Historical Society boasts of a small museum, an extensive library and a nice gift shop.

The collection at this place describes the political, environmental and socio-economic culture of California over the centuries. It speaks about the settlement, legacy, traditions and customs of the state. The vast collection is commendable, consisting of books, paintings, photographs, posters, manuscripts, newspapers, etc. The North Baker library is open to the public for use and encouraged by the museum for research. The museum hosts special exhibits illustrating and focusing on the colonization, environment, earthquakes, vintage wine, beer and spirits of California. It collaborated with the NY Historical Society to showcase Alexander Hamilton’s work in developing the American legal and political system. The museum staff is also very knowledgeable and helpful.

The Historical Society launched ‘Teaching California’, an initiative aimed to educate everyone about the past and present of the state. The museum gift shop has a great collection of books on the diversity of California and some merchandise, postcards, souvenirs, etc. They host events throughout the year and provide museum quality photo prints of historic photographs.