Historical Societies, Sites & Resources
Advocates for the Sonoma County Archives
The Sonoma County Archives at Los Guilicos house some of Sonoma County’s most important and irreplaceable historical records and have been threatened by wildfires in the past years. Our advocacy group is made up of local historical enthusiasts who seek to save and preserve Sonoma County’s heritage by advocating for the relocation and improved management and access to the Sonoma County Archives.
The California Historical Society is a statewide membership-based organization. Its mission is to engage the public's interest and participation in collecting, preserving, and presenting art, artifacts, and written materials relevant to the history of California and to support historical research, publication, and educational activities.
A nice list of societies and museums, as well as several links.
The California Pioneer Project is a developing list of California settlers who migrated to California or were born in California prior to 1880.
First-time author Brian Kelleher contends that Sir Francis Drake grounded the legendary Golden Hind at a small cove fifty miles north of San Francisco where he and his company constructed a fort three decades before the founding of Jamestown, Virginia.
Russian fur traders established a fort and colony on a scenic bluff of what is now the Sonoma coast in the spring of 1812. Fort Ross, located eleven miles northwest of the mouth of the Russian River, is now a California State Historic Park
History Day in California is a statewide program sponsored by Constitutional Rights Foundation and the California Department of Education in conjunction with National History Day. Now in its 20th year, History Day provides a history-based learning experience for students.
HSSR's purpose is to promote the knowledge of Santa Rosa’s rich and diverse history in its many aspects and in the broadest sense and to encourage efforts to preserve evidence of the city’s past, including both oral and written records and both structures and landscapes, thus furthering awareness that our history is a seamless web of connections between past and present.
Restoration project for the Jack London Beauty Ranch, located in the Valley of the Moon.
Jack London State Historic Park was created in 1959 when a small portion of London's 1,400-acre Beauty Ranch was acquired by the State of California. The original park included London's grave, the ruins of Wolf House, and Charmian London's House of Happy Walls.
The home, greenhouse, and gardens where the famed horticulturist, Luther Burbank, experimented with plants for most of his 50-year career is a unique city park located in downtown Santa Rosa.
The Mission San Francisco de Solano is a California State Landmark. It now forms a part of the public plaza in the town of Sonoma and has been restored to the way it appeared a hundred years ago.
The Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical society was founded in 1983 to prevent the loss of important historical resources during the abandonment of the railroad. Today, the society operates an archive and research library in Petaluma. Thousands of photographs, maps, financial records, employee records and other documents of historical importance are available via a searchable database.
The Petaluma Adobe is preserved in Petaluma's Adobe State Historic Park. It is one of the oldest preserved buildings in Northern California and was by all accounts the largest and richest privately owned Mexican estates north of San Francisco Bay and one of the most important in Alta California.
A brief account of some of the events in the history of the interaction of Native American and European cultures in Sonoma County.
Founded in 1983 as a non-profit membership organization, the Russian River Historical Society collects and preserves oral and visual histories, biographies and autobiographies of and about the local citizens and towns.
Sacred Sonoma
Sites in Sonoma County sacred to Native American cultures.
Since 1962, the Sonoma County Historical Society (SCHS) has been collecting, preserving and retelling Sonoma County's stories.
Sonoma State Historic Park is in the center of the town of Sonoma, surrounded by shops and nearby wineries. At its center is a large, tree-covered park surrounding the old city hall. Other historic buildings border the park.
The Sonoma Valley Historical Society was formed to honor pioneer families and to collect, preserve and disseminate the historical heritage of the Valley of the Moon. Exhibits are in the Sonoma City Hall and the Sonoma Community Center.
The Western Sonoma County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1974 and incorporated in 1978 to help preserve and maintain the unique heritage of western Sonoma County.