Upcoming Program Events

Every month you are invited to attend a reading, walking tour, gallery talk or book signing as part of our regular programming. We encourage you to attend these monthly events and bring a guest or two. We look forward to seeing you soon at the California Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted all events will be held at the California Historical Society's headquarters located at 678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.

Dr. Kevin Starr and the California Dream
Book Talk and Signing

A narrative tour de force that combines wide-ranging scholarship with captivating prose, Kevin Starr’s acclaimed series Americans and the California Dream is an unparalleled work of cultural history. In this volume, Starr covers the crucial postwar period—1950 to 1963—when the California we know today first burst into prominence.

Starr brilliantly illuminates the dominant economic, social, and cultural forces in California in these pivotal years. In a powerful blend of telling events, colorful personalities, and insightful analyses, Starr examines such issues as the overnight creation of the postwar California suburb, the rise of Los Angeles as Super City, the reluctant emergence of San Diego as one of the largest cities in the nation, and the decline of political centrism. He explores the Silent Generation and the emergent Boomer youth cult, the Beats and the Hollywood “Rat Pack,” the pervasive influence of Zen Buddhism and other Asian traditions in art and design, the rise of the University of California and the emergence of California itself as a utopia of higher education, the cooling of Western jazz, freeway and water projects of heroic magnitude, outdoor life and the beginnings of the environmental movement. More broadly, he shows how California not only became the most populous state in the Union, but in fact evolved into a megastate en route to becoming the global commonwealth it is today.

Kevin Starr is University Professor of History, University of Southern California, and State Librarian of California Emeritus. His Americans and the California Dream series has earned him the National Medal for the Humanities, the Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Harvard University, the Gold Medal of the Commonwealth Club of California, a Guggenheim fellowship, and election to the Society of American Historians. He is also a California Historical Society (CHS) fellow.

The History of Public Funding and the Arts – The Legacy of the New Deal
Speakers: Lincoln Cushing, Tim Drescher and Mark Johnson
Moderator: Gray Brechin
Funding public artwork benefits more than the artists – viewers witness their space transformed as the art enhances the urban landscape. The arts were greatly supported during the New Deal era and many WPA projects are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the recent election of a new president, will money be used to fund art and culture? Panelists speak to the similarities between the present era and the New Deal as they relate to public arts and government funding.

Using Art to Heal
Speakers and artists from: Hospitality House, Roaddawgz
Organizations working towards ending homelessness offer many services for clients. Some address artistic needs of the people they serve, fostering creativity in an accessible environment. Art workshops and spaces give participants a chance to express themselves and can provide an outlet for those in difficult situations. These organizations exist to provide a greater sense of community and to speak to needs that are often left unaddressed by other social service organizations.

Hospitality House serves the homeless community through empowerment and stimulating social change. One of their central efforts is cultural enrichment and their facilities include studio space and partnering exhibition galleries, as well as materials and instruction. Roaddawgz uses literary and artistic activities to empower homeless youth. Their safe and unbiased spaces offer opportunities to create art, and the Roaddawgz website publishes work by participants.

Hobos to Street People
Exhibition Artists Panel
Speakers: Christine Hanlon, Joe Sances, Jesus Barraza and Doug Minkler
Moderator: Art Hazelwood, Curator of Hobos to Street People
Participating artists discuss their works, the exhibition and homelessness.