I received an email today from the California Historical Society. I have been a member since the early 1980s. The state has never provided any funding. The organization is giving its collection to Stanford and then shutting down. This is very discouraging.
"Juana Briones y su California ~ Pionera, Fundadora, Curandera" was one of the many excellent exhibits that I went to see at the Society.
Dear Friend,
On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the California Historical Society (CHS) and our staff, we are writing today to share a major announcement. As you know from previous messages to you, our most committed supporters, CHS has been going through a transitional phase.
Following decades of unsuccessful attempts to secure sufficient ongoing operational funding from both the private and public sectors, the CHS Board of Trustees has been forced to take unprecedented steps to ensure the continued care and public accessibility of the CHS Collection. Given the immense historical and cultural value of the CHS Collection and the standard of care it requires, our Board was left with no option but to find a successor institution with the necessary financial resources and special expertise to ensure its long-term preservation.
After a two-year strategic planning and vetting process, we are very pleased to announce that CHS has reached an agreement with Stanford University Libraries (SUL) to steward the CHS Collection going forward. Through SUL’s partnership with the Bill Lane Center for the American West, the California Historical Society Collection at Stanford will continue to serve as a valuable resource for understanding the historical, cultural and social aspects of California and the Western region and continue to be accessible by both scholars and the public.
With a heavy heart, we are saddened to also inform you that CHS will be winding down and permanently closing. This was a difficult decision that we reached with great reluctance. We understand that this news may be surprising to some. Others may already be aware of the frequent news stories about business closures and the struggles faced by history organizations and cultural institutions in San Francisco. CHS’s struggles have not been unique in this environment.
Background
You may recall that in early 2020, Alicia Goehring, the newly-appointed Executive Director and CEO, announced a New Vision for CHS. This vision was developed in response to nearly a decade of annual budget deficits. It centered on CHS selling its building at 678 Mission Street and using the funds to cover operating costs while working to secure a significant, multi-year appropriation from the state. This plan aimed to put the organization on a path to long-term sustainability. Since most other states provide regular operating support for their official historical societies, we were hopeful at the time that critical funding from the State of California would come through. Unfortunately, the enduring effects of the pandemic, particularly the collapse of San Francisco’s commercial real estate market, thwarted this plan. CHS then suffered another blow, which also affected the larger public history community, when Ms. Goehring unexpectedly passed away in late 2022.
When our Board of Trustees subsequently learned that the State would not provide funding to support CHS’s New Vision, it became clear that CHS needed to consider a radically different path forward. Given the lack of state funding and the failure of all previous attempts to otherwise improve the organization’s long-term financial stability, CHS could not continue for much longer, even with temporary proceeds from a potential sale of our building.
Our Board explored many options for the organization’s future including collaborating or even merging with another organization that had a similar mission but a stronger financial base. Unfortunately, after an exhaustive effort, our Board was unable to identify another nonprofit or public institution organized for—or even open to—supporting such an arrangement.
Faced with the urgency of our financial situation, our Board then quickly shifted its focus to providing for the long-term care and public accessibility of CHS’s collection. A task force was appointed to evaluate, vet, and select a group of candidate organizations each with the necessary capacity and expertise to serve as a successor to CHS, to guarantee that the CHS Collection would be:
- Well cared for by an extensive and dedicated team at state-of-the-art facilities
- Kept essentially intact
- Made publicly accessible in perpetuity
- Promoted and utilized at higher levels
- Strategically expanded
- Ideally located in the San Francisco Bay Area
These criteria helped to narrow our search to four institutions, which were also assessed for their commitment to promoting the collection in line with CHS’s mission. After extensive discussions and lengthy negotiations with these institutions, the Board unanimously decided to sign an agreement with SUL to become the permanent steward of the CHS Collection.
The agreement between CHS and SUL, which has been reviewed by the California Attorney General’s Office as part of the legal dissolution process for CHS as a nonprofit organization, ensures the preservation and guarantees public accessibility of CHS’s valuable collection for future generations.
As part of the CHS asset transfer to SUL, any monetary donations previously made to CHS will continue to contribute to the preservation and maintenance of the CHS Collection at Stanford.
History of Resilience
Throughout its 150+ year history, CHS has continuously adapted and pivoted in response to organizational and financial challenges. Many times over the years, the organization has had to consider the possibility of relocating its collection or merging with other organizations. At one point, an early iteration of CHS merged with the California Genealogical Society to form the California Historic-Genealogical Society. However, this partnership dissolved after four years when the collections of both organizations were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, leaving CHS dormant for decades.
Since its revitalization in 1922, CHS has persevered through numerous challenges, including the Great Depression, rapid expansion and related overspending in the 1970s, recession and inflation in the 1980s, and a major financial crisis in the 1990s. Facing the possibility of closure in the 1990s, CHS was able to avoid this fate by selling its main asset, the Whittier Mansion, and investing in a new property at 678 Mission Street in San Francisco. While this move provided a fresh start for the organization, CHS continued to regularly face annual budget deficits in the ensuing decades.
In its early years, CHS’s operating deficits were often resolved through generous year-end contributions from members and donors, a trend that has markedly declined in recent years. And unlike other large, well-established collecting institutions, CHS’s early benefactors did not leave sufficiently large endowments to cover the ongoing operational costs of maintaining its sizable collection in perpetuity.
Furthermore, despite being recognized as California’s official state historical society, the State has declined to fund CHS’s operations. Although CHS has lobbied the California Legislature for budget appropriations, it is one of the few state historical societies that has never received general operating funds from its state government.
A New Beginning
SUL has now begun accessioning the CHS Collection into its Special Collections archive. It estimates it will take several years to completely process the vast collection of books, maps, photographs, newspapers, journals, letters, postcards, and more, which spans 16,000 linear feet. SUL may make items available incrementally as they are processed, catalogued, and, in some cases, restored.
Going forward, with its robust infrastructure, extensive team with expertise in collections development, sophisticated digitization and preservation capabilities, and industry-leading technology, SUL will be able to support the collection in a way that CHS would never have been able to do.
Furthermore, under the leadership of Vice Provost Michael Keller, SUL is committed to carrying on CHS’s mission of preserving and sharing the history of California and the West as well as curating and expanding the CHS Collection. Stanford University enjoys international renown and plans to promote the collection to academics and researchers around the world.
Through SUL’s partnership with the Bill Lane Center for the American West, the CHS Collection at Stanford will provide the basis for valuable insights into the historical, cultural and social aspects of California and the Western region. A dedicated hub for research and expertise about the American West, the Center’s work already aligns with CHS’s mission. It will help to further expand access and visibility of the relatively untapped CHS Collection through programming and outreach.
This moment is significant because it marks a return to CHS’s original role. When CHS was established in 1871, its focus was on conducting research, producing scholarly writing, and publishing works with the goal of making California’s history accessible to a wider audience. This was during a time when history was not yet recognized as an academic field and university systems were still in their early stages of development. Now, under SUL’s stewardship and the support of the Bill Lane Center, the CHS Collection at Stanford will be extensively utilized to further academic scholarship, historical research, and public education.
As we prepare for a new beginning for the CHS Collection, it is important to reflect on the tremendous impact that this organization has had on preserving California’s history. For over 150 years, CHS’s work has been sustained by the contributions of a diverse group of individuals, including donors, members, staff, volunteers, and board members. As a society, we all share a deep passion for California’s history and have come together to honor and share its stories. As an organization, we have tirelessly worked to preserve, protect, and manage its collections, even in times of limited resources, financial struggles, and economic downturns. This resilience is a testament to the commitment and engagement of individuals like yourself and a demonstration of our powerful, shared belief that understanding our diverse past is the surest path to a better future. Your support has been crucial to all that CHS has achieved, and we are immensely grateful for it.
Tony Gonzalez
Chair, Board of Trustees
Jen Whitley
Interim CEO
Copyright © 2025 California Historical Society, All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment