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."
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.
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. 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.
M. G. Vallejo /Sonoma/July 1808
Juan Bautista Alvarado /San Pablo/September 1809
Jose Jesus Martinez /Martinez/October 1814
Pedro Carlos Carrillo /Santa Barbara/March 1817
William Edward Petty Hartnell */Monterey/May 1822
William A. Richardson /Saucelito/August 1822
John B.R. Cooper /Monterey/May 1823
Robert Elwell /Santa Barbara/August 1824
Captain John Wilson /San Luis Obispo/April 1826
George W. Vincent */San Francisco/July 1825
Timothy Murphy */San Rafael/September 1828
Francisco Guerrero */San Francisco/December 1828
Alfred Robinson /Santa Barbara/February 1828
William H. Davis /San Francisco/August 1831
Francis Ziba Branch /San Luis Obispo/February 1831
George C. Yount /Napa/February 1831
Jacob P. Leese /Monterey/June 1833
José de Jesús Noé /San Francisco/October 1834
John Marsh /Contra Costa/Jan. 1836
Thomas O. Larkin /San Francisco/March 1836
Capt. John Paty /San Francisco/June 1837
John A. Sutter /Hock Farm/July 1839
William Davis Merry Howard /San Francisco/Jan. 1839
Isaac Livick /San Francisco/October 1840
Capt. Elliot Libbey /San Rafael/December 1840
Theodore Cordua /Sacramento/March 1841
John Bidwell /Butte County/November 1841
G. C. Cook */San Jose/November 1841
Josiah Belden /San Jose/November 1841
Francis H. Huber /San Francisco/November 1841
Henry L. Ford /Sacramento/September 1842
David W. Alexander /Los Angeles/December 1842
Henry F. Teschemacher /San Francisco/July 1842
Thomas A. Warbass /San Francisco/July 1842
R. L. Kilburn /Napa/March 1842
John A. Hoar /Monterey/October 1843
Jasper O'Farrell /Bodega/November 1843
Nathan Coombs /Napa/July 1843
Moses Schallenberger /San Jose/March 1844
Daniel Murphy /San Jose/December 1844
John M. Murphy /San Jose/December 1844
Martin Murphy /Santa Clara/December 1844
John Sullivan /San Francisco/December 1844
Jacob R. Snyder /San Francisco/September 1845
William Findlay /San Jose/July 1845
Judge William Blackburn /Santa Cruz /September 1845
Daniel Leahy /San Francisco/October 1845
Francis Hoen /San Francisco/September 1845
Henry C. Smith /Alameda/December 1845
William B. Bassham /San Jose/October 1845
Captain William F. Swasey /San Francisco/September 1845
Samuel Brannan /San Francisco/July 1846
R. M. Sherman /San Francisco/March 1846
E. C. Kemble /San Francisco/July 1846
Edwin Bryant /San Francisco/August 1846
Henry Gerke /San Francisco/July 1846
B. S. Lippincott /San Francisco/October 1846
Samuel Kyburg /San Francisco/October 1846
A. J. Grayson /San Jose/October 1846
Ned Grayson/San Jose/October 1846
C. C. Southward /Trinidad/February 1846
E. A. King /San Francisco/November 1846
D. A. McDermut /San Francisco/October 1846
William H. Russell /San Francisco/August 1846
Joseph Aram /San Jose/September 1846
J. C. Davis /Putah Creek/February 1846
John M. Horner /Alameda/July 1846
H. S. Turner /San Francisco/December 1846
B. R. Buckelew /San Francisco/October 1846
J. Caldwell Low /San Francisco/March 1847
Edward Gilbert */San Francisco/March 1847
J. C. L. Wadsworth /San Francisco/April 1847
L. W. Sloat /San Francisco/August 1847
A. G. Abell /San Francisco/August 1847
L. B. Clements /Santa Cruz/June 1847
J. Mead Huxley /San Francisco/March 1847
J. L. Folsom, U.S. A./San Francisco/March 1847
G. Frank Lemon /San Francisco/March 1847
H. W. Halleck /San Francisco/Jan. 1847
H. M. Naglee /San Francisco March 1847
R. J. Tobin /San Francisco/September 1847
R. A. Parker /Crescent City/March 1847
H. A. Schoolcraft */Sacramento/April 1847
Jas. L. Ord /Monterey/Jan. 1847
John B. Frisbie /San Francisco/March 1847
Thos. J. Roach */Trinidad/April 1847
S. W. Haight /San Francisco/March 1847
Richard H. Sinton /San Francisco/November 1847
Alfred J. Ellis /San Francisco/April 1847
M. L. Callender /San Francisco/April 1847
Alfred A. Green /San Francisco/April 1847
Geo. Stoneman, U.S.A./San Francisco/Jan. 1847
Henry D. Cook /San Francisco/July 1847
John S. Beener /San Francisco/September 1847
W. T. Sherman, U.S.A./San Francisco/Jan. 1847
H. W. Theall /Sonora/March 1847
Charles Stevens /San Francisco/April 1847
Charles L. Ross /San Francisco/April 1847
Horace Hawes /San Francisco/April 1847
Hiram Grimes /San Francisco/February 1847
James Adams /San Francisco/March 1847
John Q. Adams /San Francisco/March 1847
William Joy /San Francisco/April 1847
William M. Stewart /San Francisco/October 1848
Bethuel Phelps /San Francisco/August 1848
Charles B. Johnson /Los Angeles/April 1848
Alfred DeWitt /San Francisco/September 1848
I. C. Woods /San Francisco/November/1848
Herman Wohler /San Francisco/February 1848
James King of William /San Francisco/November 1848
Chas. A. Angelo /San Francisco/December 1848
Edward Martin /San Francisco/November 1848
George W. Ryder /San Francisco/October 1848
J. Wemys Austin /San Francisco/August 1848
P. B. Cornwall /Sacramento/July 1848
John Erskine Jr. /San Francisco/Jan. 1849
E. V. Joice /San Francisco/Jan. 1849
Aaron Pollard /San Francisco/Jan. 1849
David T. Bagley /San Francisco/February 1849
Joseph G. Cadiz /San Francisco/February 1849
Elisha Oscar Crosby/San Francisco/February 1849
George R. Davidson /San Francisco/February 1849
James Grant /San Francisco/February 1849
Charles Gulliver /San Francisco/February 1849
John McDougal /San Francisco/February 1849
Gabriel B. Post /San Francisco/February 1849
Levi Stowell /San Francisco/February 1849
E. L. Sullivan /San Francisco/February 1849
Jesse Sutton /San Francisco/February 1849
William Van Voorhies /San Francisco/February 1849
William H. Grattan /San Francisco/March 1849
W. A. Mix /Red Bluffs/March 1849
Richard Ross /San Francisco/March 1849
John Benson /San Francisco/April 1849
Alvin A. Coffey /Sacramento Valley/May 1849
Edward Conner /San Francisco/April 1849
R. P. Hammond /San Francisco's/April 1849
Kelsey Hazen /San Francisco/April 1849
Frank Johnson /Sacramento/April 1849
John T. Little /San Francisco/April 1849
A. J. Morrell /San Francisco/April 1849
Jam L. Newell /San Francisco's/April 1849
R. Erskine Newland /San Francisco/April 1849
E. F. Northam /San Francisco/April 1849
A. W. Peabody /San Francisco's/April 1849
A. C. Peachy /San Francisco/April 1849
A. G. Randall /San Francisco/April 1849
J. Prall Stephens /San Francisco/April 1849
O. P. Sutton /San Francisco/April 1849
B. F. Voorheos /San Francisco/April 1849
Albert Williams /San Francisco/April 1849
Charles Hosmer /San Francisco/May 1849
W. Cornell Jewett /San Francisco/May 1849
Frank Soule /San Francisco/May 1849
William Neely Thomson /San Francisco/May 1849
Frank Turk /San Francisco/May 1849
James Vantine /San Francisco/May 1849
William Baker Jr. /San Francisco/June 1849
H. G. Blankman /Monterey/June 1849
F. A. Bonnard /San Francisco/June 1849
R. E. Brewster /San Francisco/June 1849
P. A. Brinsmade /San Francisco's/June 1849
David C. Broderick /San Francisco/June 1849
William M. Burgoyne /San Francisco/June 1849
John A. Clark /San Francisco/June 1849
John Q. Cole /San Francisco/June 1849
Robert G. Crozier /San Francisco/June 1849
E. Morris Earl /San Francisco/June 1849
William M. Eddy */San Francisco/June 1849
Chas. S. Eigenbrodt /San Francisco/June 1849
Samuel C. Eveleth /San Francisco/June 1849
William D. Fair /San Francisco/June 1849
E. Gallagher /San Francisco/June 1849
Chas. H. Gilman /San Francisco/June 1849
Geo. W. Green /San Francisco/June 1849
John S. Hagar /San Francisco/June 1849
Stephen R. Harris /San Francisco's/June 1849
B. Frank Hillard /San Francisco/June 1849
Geo. A. Hudson /San Francisco's/June 1849
George Kerr */Stockton/June 1849
Asa T. Lawton /San Francisco/June 1849
J. E. Lawrence /San Francisco/June 1849
Chas. W. Lawton /San Francisco/June 1849
E. W. Leonard /San Francisco/June 1849
Hiram Leonard, U.S.A./San Francisco's/June 1849
Louis R. Lull /San Francisco/June 1849
John A. McGlynn /San Francisco/June 1849
William McKibben /San Francisco/June 1849
Peter A. Morse /San Francisco's/June 1849
O. C. Osborne /San Francisco/June 1849
James Pearson /San Francisco/June 1849
John V. Plume /San Francisco/June 1849
Julius K. Rose /San Francisco/June 1849
John Satterlee /San Francisco/June 1849
William J. Shaw /San Francisco/June 1849
Hervey Sparks /San Francisco/June 1849
T. G. Spear /San Francisco/June 1849
R. Julius Stevens /San Francisco June 1849
William H. Tiffany /San Francisco/June 1849
John Vandewater /San Francisco/June 1849
Julius Wetzler /Sacramento/June 1849
G. W. Bryant /San Francisco's/July 1849
Albert H. Clark /Los Angeles/July 1849
John M. Coughlin /San Francisco/July 1849
John C. Derby /San Francisco/July 1849
Squire P. Dewey /San Francisco/July 1849
Jas. R. Duff /San Francisco/July 1849
David Dwyer /San Francisco/July 1849
E. A. Edgerton /San Francisco/July 1849
John M. Farwell /San Francisco/July 1849
W. B. Farwell /San Francisco/July 1849
James Fitton /San Francisco/July 1849
Chas. H. Gough /San Francisco/July 1849
James G. Gould /San Francisco/July 1849
Isaac M. Hall /San Francisco/July 1849
E. D. Hammond /San Francisco's/July/1849
William C. Hoff /San Francisco's/July 1849
Caleb Hyatt /San Francisco/July 1849
Richard M. Jessup /San Francisco/July 1849
David Jobson /San Francisco/July 1849
William E. Keyes /San Francisco/July 1849
Seth R. Kneeland /San Francisco/July 1849
A. Larrain /San Francisco/July 1849
Henry Meiggs /San Francisco/July 1849
Daniel Norcross /San Francisco/July 1849
James G. Pearson /San Francisco/July 1849
C. T. Ryland /San Jose/July 1849
Jacob Shew /San Francisco/July 1849
John Short /San Francisco/July 1849
Jas. B. Townsend /San Francisco/July 1849
William W. Warner /San Francisco/July 1849
Joseph R. West /San Francisco/July 1849
F. B. Austin /San Francisco/August 1849
Abram Bartol /San Francisco/August 1849
Calhoun Benham /San Francisco/August 1849
J. D. Bluxome /San Francisco/August 1849
Theodore Boschulte /San Francisco/August 1849
C. J. Brenham /San Francisco/August 1849
De Witt C. Brown /San Francisco/August 1849
J. J. A. Bruce /San Francisco/August 1849
J. J. Bryant /San Francisco/August 1849
Wake Bryarly /San Francisco/August 1849
Alexander Campbell /San Francisco/August 1849
Chas. D. Carter /San Francisco/August 1849
William H. Chamberlain, Miss./San Jose/August 1849
Richard Cheenery /San Francisco/August 1849
Reuben Clark /San Francisco/August 1849
Smyth Clark /San Francisco/September 1849
William Clark /San Francisco/August 1849
B. B. Coit /San Francisco/August 1849
John W. Conner /San Francisco/August 1849
C. H. Crane /San Francisco/August 1849
E. W. Crowell /San Francisco/August 1849
William H. Crowell /San Francisco/August 1849
Arthur M. Ebbetts /San Francisco/August 1849
Horatio S. Gates /San Francisco/August 1849
William L. Higgins /San Francisco/August 1849
James Holohan /San Francisco/August 1849
A. J. Hooper /San Francisco/August 1849
E. J. C. Kewen /San Francisco/August 1849
C. W. Lander /San Francisco/August 1849
F. W. Macondray /San Francisco/August 1849
William Newell /San Francisco/August 1849
William B. Olds /San Francisco/August 1849
John J. Pensam /San Francisco/August 1849
D. W. Perlay /San Francisco/August 1849
Joseph W. Philips /San Francisco/August 1849
L. Pickering /San Francisco/August 1849
J. D. Pierson /San Francisco/August 1849
Rudolf Korwin Piotrowski /San Francisco/August 1849
D. T. Raymond /San Francisco/August 1849
Philip A. Roach /San Francisco/August 1849
Daniel S. Roberts /San Francisco/August 1849
Levi Hukill Sherman /San Francisco/August 1849
William Sherman /San Francisco/August 1849
Horatio N. Squire /San Francisco/August 1849
David B. Stover /San Francisco/August 1849
Frank Tilford /San Francisco/August 1849
John W. Tucker /San Francisco/August 1849
David S. Turner /San Francisco/August 1849
Henry Vandervier /San Francisco/August 1849
Chas. J. Warner /San Francisco's/August 1849
William R. Wheaton /San Francisco/August 1849
M. S. Whiting /San Francisco/August 1849
John P. Buckley /San Francisco/September 1849
William E. Bushnell /San Francisco/September 1849
Jas. O. Callaghan /San Francisco/September 1849
D. W. Connelly /San Francisco/September 1849
J. N. Cordoza /San Francisco/September 1849
Joseph Daniels /San Francisco/September 1849
R. K. Dodge /San Francisco/September 1849
William L. Duncan /San Francisco/September 1849
F. C. Ewer /San Francisco/September 1849
G. K. Fitch /San Francisco/September 1849
Richard V. Groat /San Francisco/September 1849
C. W. Gunnell /San Francisco/September 1849
Chas. F. Hamilton /San Francisco/September 1849
Cullen A. Johnson /San Francisco/September 1849
W. F. Kelsey /San Francisco/September 1849
Moses A. Lewis /San Francisco/September 1849
Thos. E. Lindenberger /San Francisco/September 1849
Atkins Massey /San Francisco/September 1849
John Middleton /San Francisco/September 1849
H. C. Murray /San Francisco/September 1849
Geo. A. Parker /Sacramento/September 1849
A. B. Perkins /San Francisco/September 1849
William L. Ryckman /San Francisco/September 1849
Abia A. Sclover /San Francisco/September 1849
S. Asbury Shephard /San Francisco/September 1849
Chas. S. Simpson /San Francisco/September 1849
George M. Smith /San Francisco/September 1849
John H. Spooner /San Francisco/September 1849
James B. Starr /Sacramento/September 1849
John H. Still /San Francisco/September 1849
William Taylor /San Francisco/September 1849
Isaac N. Thorne /San Francisco/September 1849
J. W. Tice /San Francisco/September 1849
James Tobin /San Francisco/September 1849
Ferdinand Vassault /San Francisco/September 1849
William V. Wells /San Francisco/September 1849
Chas. H. West /San Francisco/September 1849
Thos. J. White /San Francisco/September 1849
William G. Wood /San Francisco/September 1849
A. S. Wright /San Francisco/September 1849
Rector Elisha Cole /San Francisco/October 1849
John Judson Ames /San Diego/October 1849
Joseph Fairfield Atwill /San Francisco/October 1849
Judge H. S. Brown /San Francisco/October 1849
Selim Franklin /San Francisco/October 1849
Sterling A. Hopkins /San Francisco/October 1849
E. F. Hussey /San Francisco/October 1849
H. P. Jones /San Francisco/October 1849
John Horace Kent /San Francisco/October 1849
E. McGowan /San Francisco/October 1849
S. H. Meeker /Sacramento/October 1849
Charles Minturn /San Francisco/October 1849
Elisha Nichols /San Francisco/October 1849
C. T. Parker /San Francisco/October 1849
Theodore Payne /San Francisco/October 1849
George S. Porter /San Francisco/October 1849
Geo. H. Preston /San Francisco/October 1849
Charles C. Roe /San Francisco's/October 1849
Gerritt W. Ryckman /San Francisco/October 1849
George Simpton /San Francisco/October 1849
James W. Stillman /San Francisco/October 1849
George F. Sweeney /San Francisco/October 1849
Philo White /San Francisco/October 1849
J. W. Young /San Francisco/October 1849
Washington Bartlett /San Francisco's/November 1849
T. K. Battelle /San Francisco's/November 1849
Charles R. Bond /San Francisco/November 1849
William H. J. Brooks /San Francisco/November 1849
Chas. E. Buckingham /San Francisco/November 1849
G. W. Coffee /San Francisco/November 1849
Joseph Galloway /San Francisco/November 1849
John H. Gibon /San Francisco/November 1849
Henry M. Gray /San Francisco/November 1849
A. M. Heslep /San Francisco/November 1849
John McCrackan /San Francisco/November 1849
F. McGilvery /San Francisco/November 1849
A. B. Paul /San Francisco/November 1849
Lewis Peck /San Francisco/November 1849
Joseph Shannon /San Francisco/November 1849
J. E. Wainwright /San Francisco/November 1849
Henry A. Breed /San Francisco/December 1849
James Dows /San Francisco/December 1849
John O. Earl /San Francisco/December 1849
James Evrard /San Francisco/December 1849
Wilson Flint /San Francisco/December 1849
E. J. Folsom /San Francisco/December 1849
David Gillespie /San Francisco/December 1849
Henry M. Hale /San Francisco/December 1849
John Coffee Hays /San Francisco/December 1849
Thomas D. Johns /San Francisco/December 1849
John A. Monroe /San Francisco/December 1849
John Nugent /San Francisco/December 1849
Samuel Purdy /San Francisco's/December 1849
S. Rosenthal /San Francisco/December 1849
Daniel L. Ross /San Francisco/December 1849
P. W. Shepheard /San Francisco/December 1849
Henry J. Wells /San Francisco/December 1849
Gregory Yale /San Francisco/December 1849
J. M. Tewksbury /San Francisco/1849
F. H. West /San Francisco/1849
W. J. Whitney /San Francisco/1849
G. T. Upham /San Francisco/1849
L. A. Birdsall /San Francisco/1849
G. Burdell /San Francisco/1849
W. Hoskins /San Francisco/1849
L. D. Jones /San Francisco/1849
Those marked thus * are deceased by 1851
