The Berkeley Historical Society (BHS) is a non-profit all-volunteer organization that serves as a primary resource for the collection and preservation of local history.The Berkeley Historical Society was established during the 1978 Berkeley Centennial Celebration.

The BHS History Center is open Thursdays through Saturdays, from 1 to 4 p.m.; Free admission, wheelchair accessible. We are across the street from Berkeley's Civic Center/Martin Luther Park, and two blocks from the downtown Berkeley BART station.XXXX
Directions:
• Yahoo Map • Bay Area Rapid Transit (B.A.R.T.)  • AC Transit Bus

Walking tours
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Berkeley & the Wars:
A Look Back at local Military Sites
Led by Steve Finacom and John Aronovici
Berkeley ‘s military connections date to Civil War veterans coming west and the founding of the University with Federal funding that required military training for male students. Generations of soldiers, veterans and military organizations have left their local mark. Guides Steven Finacom and John Aronovici will lead through one-time Downtown and UC campus military sites, from Berkeley’s National Guard Armory to an artillery park, with special attention to May, 1933, when Berkeley hosted a gathering of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) (Union veterans of the Civil War). We’ll finish with a special showing of memorabelia from local GAR organizations.

Saturday, May 10
Northbrae Trolleys
Led by Phil Gale
his walk will explore the relationship between the early electric street railroads and the real estate interests in the Northbrae area. Who were the big players in the area? Why is Marin Avenue laid out straight up the hill? Why are so many streets named after counties? This walk will involve some stairs and steep grades, al- though all will be on public rights of way. It is not suitable for handicapped people.

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Panoramic Hill Trails, Steps and History
Led by Ron Sipherd
Defined by Strawberry Canyon and Hamilton Gulch, Panoramic Hill’s contrasting qualities of proximity to the university and steep, difficult terrain have made it unique among Berkeley neighborhoods since 1888. The tour will explore both aspects and (from the outside) the homes of doctors, professors, and eccentrics who lived there. Visit Ron’s Web site http://www.well.com/~ronks/pix/panowalk to learn more about this walk. Sipherd has spent many weekends climbing and descending its slopes and collecting neighborhood lore. This walk is strenuous and not easily wheelchair accessible. Bring water.

Saturday, May 31
McGee Tract
Led by Paul Grunland
BHS walk leader since 1997, Grundland will lead a walk prepared by the McGee-Spaulding-Hardy Historic Interest Group through three historic neighborhood tracts, including St. Joseph the Workers Church, where, Father Harry Morrison, the first President of the Berkeley Historical Society, was pastor.

Saturday, June 14, 2008
Bonus Tour: New Cal Libraries
Led by Manuel Erviti, Interim Head of the Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library, and Deborah Rudolph, librarian at the Starr Library
For those subscribing to at least three Spring 2008 Walking Tours, this is a free tour of recent Cal buildings, Hargrove Music Library and the CV Starr East Asian Library. It is led by Manuel Erviti, Interim Head of the Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library and Deborah Rudolph librarian at the Starr Library. Hargrove Music Library (2004) is the number one academic music library in the US; this high-tech building houses 190,000 volumes of music, books and periodicals, more than 50,000 records, manuscripts and other rare materials. The C.V. Starr East Asian Library (2007), part of the Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies, pro- vides a central home for the University’s renowned collections focused on East Asia.


To download a Walking Tours PDF, click here.

CURRENT EXHIBIT . . .

April 27 - September 27
Berkeley, A City of Firsts
CURATED BY LINDA ROSEN

On Grand Opening exhibit day, Mayor Tom Bates will discuss, “What happens in Berkeley today is conventional wisdom in the rest of the country tomorrow.” Berkeley has long been a leader in innovations: The Police Department established scientific policing, the Fire Department pioneered use of smoke blowers; the Berkeley Unified School District voluntarily integrated the schools; and the City has led the way in peace initiatives, banned Styrofoam, provided health benefits for domestic partners of employees, and made inroads in energy conservation. The University of California, the Berkeley National Lab, the Ecology Center, the Center for Independent Living, and many local organizations and individuals have all contributed to the growing list of “Berkeley Firsts.”

EXHIBIT OPENING
Sunday, April 27, 2008 . . . 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Regular hours are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays,
from 1- 4 p.m.

Past Exhibits . . .
• Civic institutions and schools • Folk music posters • Transportation systems • Berkeley postcards • Oakland-Berkeley fire of 1991 • Japanese-American experience • Berkeley’s literary scene • Treasures from the archive • Vietnam War era • Disability rights movement • Louis L. Stein collection of photographs and memorabilia • History of the Berkeley Historical Society • Great fire of 1923 • Berkeley artists • Berkeley, then and now • Berkeley’s ethnic heritage • The decade of 1900-1910 • From the Attic • Sather Tower • Recent acquisitions • George Berkeley and the naming of Berkeley, California • Berkeley 125th anniversary photo exhibit • Early women of Berkeley • Bohemian Berkeley • City of Berkeley Police Department • Fermenting Berkeley • 75 Years Ago • Vanishing Victorians • Berkeley in the 1930s

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MAKE A DONATION . . .

The Berkeley Historical Society depends on support from the community to preserve, collect and archive Berkeley history. There are several ways you can contribute to the BHS:
• Volunteer your time or services • Donate archival material • Donate Gifts of Stock or through Estate Planning • Sponsor an event, exhibition, publication, or public program.
Call us at (510) 848-0181 for more information. Your contributions are tax-deductible.

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• Free Speech Movement Digital Archive from UC Berkeley Libraries

• Free Speech Movement Archives (FSM-A)

• Berkeley Free Speech Movement (photos by Ron Enfield)

• Berkeley Vietnam Veterans Memorial (inaugurated November 11, 1995, at the Berkeley Historical Society, by Country Joe McDonald and then-mayor Shirley Dean - see also Mayor Tom Bates)

• Mark Kitchell’s film Berkeley in the Sixties (from California Newsreel)

• Berkeley in the Seventies, "A History of Progressive Electoral Politics," by David Mundstock

• Berkeley Campaign Art, also by David Mundstock

• San Francisco Fire Department Response to the Berkeley Conflagration of September 1923 and Response to the Oakland-Berkeley Hills Conflagration of October 1991



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• Alameda County page of the California USGenWeb Project

• Alameda Co. page for RootsWeb.com

• Sidewalk Contractor Stamps (by Lincoln Cushing)

• Map of the East Bay showing routes of the Key System (1911) (large file, may be slow to load)

Panoramic Maps page from the Library of Congress, including a 1909 map of Berkeley

• Article about San Pablo Avenue from the Lincoln Highway Association, California Chapter

• AC Transit History

• East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) History

• abagOnline (Assoc. of Bay Area Governments; other city/county information)

• African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO)

• Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (San Jose)

• C.E. Smith Museum of Anthropology and Yema-Po exhibit (19th Century Chinese labor camp at Lake Chabot)

• GLBT Historical Society (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender)

• Dunsmuir Historic Estate

• Children’s Fairyland

• John Hudson Thomas site by Jim Stetson

• Bernard Maybeck a Wikipedia article

• John Marsh and the Marsh House

• Julia Morgan a Wikipedia artcle

• Pardee Home Museum

• Albany Library Historical Photograph Collection

• Alameda Museum

• Belmont: A History of

• Burlingame History

• Contra Costa Historical Society

• El Cerrito History

• Fairfax History

• Fremont Museum of Local History

• Fort Ross: History of the Russian Settlement (Sonoma County)

• Marin History Museum

• Oakland: City of

• Oakland Heritage Alliance

• Oakland Public Library

• Point Richmond History Association

• Richmond Museum of History

• San Anselmo Historical Museum

• San Francisco BayArea Creek Guide

• Santa Rosa - The Founders

• Sausalito Historical Society

• San José History

• San Mateo County History Museum

• Stanford University History and the Stanford Historical Society

• SF Gate (San Francisco Chronicle)

• San Francisco Bay Guardian

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• American Historical Society of Germans From Russia (AHSGR)

• General Land Office Records (Bureau of Land Management)

• National Archives’ Genealogy Page

• Ellis Island (American Family Immigration History Center - search for records)

• Ellis Island Immigration Museum
• RootsWeb.com

• USGenWeb Project

• African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO)

• African American Genealogical Society of Northern California

• Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (San Jose)

• East Bay Genealogical Society


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