Tour of the Society of California Pioneers

Hosted by Library Director, Pat Keats, enjoy a self-guided view of the Society's new exhibit of Treasures from the Collections, and a tour of the Alice Phelan Sullivan Library, which contains over 10,000 books, manuscripts, maps, journals, newspapers, and autobiographical materials related to the early history of California.

Among its most distinguished holdings are over fifty pioneer diaries, notably those of John A. Sutter and Henry W. Bigler, the primary sources documenting the discovery of gold in California, and an eight-volume book of reminiscences of its founding members from 1850. Scholars may consult some 1,000 manuscript files, a newspaper collection numbering over 250 titles, nearly 300 periodicals, over 3,000 maps, and archival material related to Mexican California, Angel Island, the Midwinter Fair of 1894, and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 as well as the Cooper-Molera Papers, the Patterson Mining Collection, and the Jacob Rink Snyder Collection.

The Library is non-circulating, but open by appointment to Members, Friends, college and university faculty, graduate students, and other individuals pursuing research.

The schedule is as follows:

• 5:30 - 6:30 PM: Meet at the Society of California Pioneers' 1st floor gallery.
• 7:00 - 8:00 PM: Tour of the Library (3rd floor).

Food and drink will be served on the 2nd floor between 6:00 - 8:30 PM.

Please note: no confirmation emails will be sent unless reservations become unavailable.

For directions to the Society of California Pioneers, click here.