Society of California Pioneers

Membership certificate issued to Joshua S. Henshaw, December 15, 1866

Established in 1850, the Society of California Pioneers is dedicated to the study and enjoyment of California art, history, and culture. Founded by individuals arriving in California before 1850 and thriving under the leadership of several generations of their direct descendants, The Society has continuously served its members, the academic community, and the public. As the oldest organization West of The Mississippi, The Society opened the first library in California, as well as a grand hall for meetings, lectures, and social events. Today The Society operates a public museum and a research library, both housed in one of the iconic Montgomery Barracks Buildings on The Presidio of San Francisco’s historic Main Post.

Pioneer Hall features rotating exhibitions of art and artifacts amassed since 1850; free museum education programs for school-aged children, as well as public tours and events are offered. The Alice Phelan Sullivan Research Library, which houses a large portion of The Society’s collections, is open to the public by appointment, allowing researchers and historians access to The Society’s privately held repository of rare primary source materials.

The Society's service to the community is designed to support scholarship and encourage new interpretations that illuminate and honor the diverse experiences of those who came before us.

According to its constitution, The Society's mission is "to cultivate the social virtues of its members, to collect and preserve information connected with the early settlement and conquest of the country, and to perpetuate the memory of those who sagacity, enterprise, and love of independence induced them to settle in the wilderness, and become the germ of a new State."

The Society continues to be a membership organization, and "Membership is open to descendants of pioneers who arrived in California prior to January 1, 1850."[1]

Museum

Dr. Charles Boarman (1828-1880), son of Rear Admiral Charles Boarman, was a founding member and presided of the first meeting of the Amador County chapter in 1877. He and his family were among the first people to settle in Amador County in 1859, and was its county physician and coroner from 1863 to 1880.

The Society continues to exist and has its headquarters in San Francisco as it always has been. Pioneer Hall at The Presidio, which includes a museum (open to the public Wednesday to Sunday) and a research library (open by appointment only) is on the historic Main Post at 101 Montgomery, Suite 150 - Presidio of San Francisco, 94129.

The Society of California Pioneers’ archives document the founding and early history of California, including The Gold Rush, The Earthquake and Fire of 1906, and other defining events. The collection includes manuscripts and letters, paintings, prints and drawings, photographs, books, maps, newspapers and journals, the business ledgers of mining and transportation companies, as well as historic artifacts and decorative objects. An extensive collection of overland and pioneer diaries includes those of John A. Sutter and a letter by Henry W. Bigler, both primary sources announcing the discovery of gold in California. Works by Carleton Watkins, Eadweard Muybridge, Lawrence & Houseworth, and Turrill & Miller are held in our archive of photographs, panoramas, and daguerreotypes. Particularly notable for its nineteenth-century holdings, the painting collection includes works by Thomas Hill, William Coulter, Jules Tavernier, and Maynard Dixon. Together with The Society’s collection of ephemera and prints, these form a vivid, visual record of life in California over time.

The museum exhibits art and artifacts from the Society's collections on a rotating basis.

Bear Flags

Several Bear Flags were donated to the Society during the last half of the 19th century, including a flag which almost certainly was the Bear Flag which was lowered at Sonoma on July 9, 1846, when the U.S. Flag was first raised at that location. This same Bear Flag very well may be the original Bear Flag which was made at the beginning of the Bear Flag Revolt of June/July 1846. The donation records of the Society show that two Bear Flags were donated to the Society by California U. S. Senator Weller on September 8, 1855.[2] For many years, the Society would carry the Bear Flag during Admission Day parades and also on Anniversaries of the Bear Flag Revolt. Unfortunately all of the Bear flags held by the Society were destroyed in April 1906 as a result of the earthquake and fires which destroyed the Society's Pioneer Hall. Luckily a few photographs of the flags which had been taken survived so that we know what the flags actually looked like. Also a duplicate of the Bear Flag was made in 1896, the 50th Anniversary of the Bear Flag Revolt, and this flag continues to be displayed at the Sonoma Barracks, in Sonoma, California.

The Early Pioneers (51 members)

1800-1829

1830-1839

1840-1845

The Mexican-American War Years (64 members)

1846

1847

1848

The Gold Rush (268 members)

1849 Jan-Mar (18)

1849 Apr-May (23)

1849 June (43)

1849 July (31)

1849 August (52)

1849 September (40)

1849 Nov/Dec (33)

1849 Additional (unspecified month of arrival) (8)

Those marked thus * are deceased by 1851

References

  1. ↑ "The Society of California Pioneers". Californiapioneers.org. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  2. ↑ "1848-1855 Naval Correspondence re: Montgomery Bear Flag". Bearflagmuseum.org. 2007-09-17. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ William H. Davis, Seventy-Five Years in California - Family History Search
  5. 1 2 "San Francisco History - The Beginnings of San Francisco, Chapter XV". Sfgenealogy.com. 1909-09-26. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  6. ↑ "Calarchives4u.com". Calarchives4u.com. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  7. ↑ "Bibliography". Bearflagmuseum.org. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  8. ↑ "Finding Aid to the Noël Sullivan papers, [ca. 1911-1956], [ca. 1911-1956]". Content.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  9. ↑ "California – The Great Seal Of The State". Oldandsold.com. 1906-01-23. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  10. ↑ "Family Grove » William Blackburn". Familygrove.webjaw.com. 2006-05-06. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  11. ↑ History of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851: a study of ... - Mary Floyd Williams - Google Boeken. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  12. ↑ "DSRB Auction 12, Lot 72". Sloanrarebooks.com. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  13. ↑ "John Judson Ames (1821 - 1861) | San Diego History Center". Sandiegohistory.org. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  14. ↑ "Calarchives4u.com". Calarchives4u.com. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  15. ↑ Archived June 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ Archived December 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  17. ↑ "Healdsburg's History". Ourhealdsburg.com. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  18. ↑ Popular Tribunals - Hubert Howe Bancroft - Google Boeken. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  19. ↑ The Bay of San Francisco: The Metropolis of the Pacific Coast and Its ... - Google Boeken. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013-12-31.

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