See what’s coming up for Institute members or the public on our What’s New page. Prospective members can inquire about coming once or twice as a visitor before joining. Public events are irregular.
…
Blog Archives
Conversation on History Publishing
by 
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Speaking June 17, 2018:
Malcolm Margolin headed Heyday Books from 1974 to 2015, and Jackie Pels has run Hardscratch Press since 1990. Join us on Sunday, June 17 (our usual Work-in-Progress time slot, the 3rd Sunday) at the Berkeley Central Public Library,
…
Local History Excursion May 20: Niles Canyon
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Join the California and the West Group at Niles Canyon in Fremont on Sunday, May 20, for an entire day of history-laden activities organized by Rose Marie Cleese. “Tentative plans call for a late-morning half-hour ride on the historic Niles Canyon Railway from Fremont to Sunol (for a nominal fee),
…
The Future of the Past in the Digital Age
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
This March! Two illuminating panels that explore the intersection of digital technology and history. Whether you’re a researcher, writer, history teacher, student, archivist, historian, or simply a history buff, you’ll discover how today’s technology tools are changing the study and accessibility of all things historical forever.
Panelists include:
- Chris Carlsson,
…
Save the Date: Feb. 24
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Our annual membership meeting will be on Saturday, February 24 at the Mechanics’ Institute Library, San Francisco. Come hear what we’ve been up to, elect some new board members, have lunch, and hear a presentation by Monika Trobits, one of our mini-grant recipients.
…
Holiday Greetings from the Institute!
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
May you have a fun-filled or restful holiday season, whichever you prefer. We hope to see you in the New Year—see our Upcoming Events.
Prospective members, we hope you will join us in 2018. Existing members, please recruit someone new!
…
Thank You!
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Jody Offer once again hosted our annual potluck at her house, and a good time was had by all! Many thanks to Jody and her husband Stuart, and to the fabulous chefs among our group. Eating and drinking together has always been a favorite activity of the Institute for Historical Study!
…
Public Event: “Siberia and California”
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Siberia and California: Connections during the Russian Revolution and Civil War
Late in 1917 (25 October according to the Old Style calendar, 7 November according to the New Style), shortly after the US entered World War I and began sending troops to France on the side of the Allies,
…
History Play Readers Invite Newcomers
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
The history play readers will meet on Friday, October 27, at 1 pm at the San Francisco home of Nancy Zinn to read and discuss Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore. The title refers both to Alan Turing’s work as a mathematician and computer science pioneer,
…
Fandango!
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
The California and the West Study Group is sponsoring an event on September 30th open to the whole Institute membership. We will be attending a fandango in Martinez at the historic Martinez adobe, with a number of added inducements. The fandango, a traditional community dance, has been organized by a group that sings historic Californio songs and also plays for dancing,
…
It’s Mini-Grant Time!
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
The Institute Board of Directors is pleased to announce the Mini-Grant Program for 2017-18. The deadline for this year’s application is September 15. The Mini-Grant Committee will examine the applications and report its decisions to the Board, which will have the final say. Checks will be issued by October 15.
…
Mother Lode Trip, Sept. 23–25, 2016
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Members of the Institute, along with members of the Italian-American Studies Association, had a fabulous history trip to the heart of California’s Gold Country the weekend of September 23–25, 2016.
Thank you to Rose Marie Cleese for organizing it! For a report on the weekend, see our Fall 2016 newsletter.
…
History of Art Venues in Berkeley
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Ann Harlow and the California and the West Study Group invite Institute members and their guests to a day of local art and architecture history in Berkeley on Saturday, January 23, 2016. We will meet at 10 am at the Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center Street.
…
It’s Mini-Grant Time!
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
The Institute Board of Directors is pleased to announce the Mini-Grant Program for 2015-16. The deadline for this year’s application is September 15. The Mini-Grant Committee will examine the applications and report its decisions to the Board, which will have the final say. Checks will be issued by October 15.
…
Annual Meeting New Member Presentations
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Excerpts from the report in the Spring 2015 Newsletter:
Sue Mote is working on a novel, “An Ordinary Viking,” the story of an adventure-seeking youth who really doesn’t like the shedding of blood. When researching the Viking age for a work of fiction,
…
Report on San Francisco Main Library Tour
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Nine Institute members received an exclusive tour of the main San Francisco Public Library on January 31, 2015. Our guide, Susan Goldstein, has served as City Archivist since 1995. In her position, she works with all the city departments to preserve and make accessible their historical records.
…
SFPL Tour 1/31/15
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Brought to you by the California and the West Study Group: Please join us for a special tour of the New Main Library on Saturday, January 31st, from 10:15 AM to 12 noon. The New Main (now almost 20 years old!) opened its doors on April 18,
…
Public Program: World War I Films
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
A series of major films about World War I begins in January and continues into May. Showings will be on Sunday afternoons, at the San Francisco Main Library on the dates indicated below. Each film will be introduced by an Institute member, and there will be time for discussion afterwards.
…
Tags: film, World War I
Local History Field Trips for 2015
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Six members of the Institute whose specialties include California got together on November 8th at Jody Offer’s house to plan for a year of programs. Meeting were Jody, Ann Harlow, Joanne Lafler, Rose Marie Cleese, Peter Meyerhof, and Edith Piness. After some discussion, the group concluded that having a series of visits to historic sites had proven to be a winning formula for 2014 and that there was plenty of material for another year of such explorations.
…
Report on Richmond Waterfront Field Trip
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
On July 26 a dozen or so Institute members and friends visited aboard the SS Red Oak Victory ship moored in Richmond (an exhibition of the Richmond Museum of History). This Victory ship, built in 1944 at the Kaiser Shipyards, was one of ten built for the Navy.
…
Report on Los Gatos Field Trip
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Institute members converged from the East Bay, South Bay, and San Francisco at the History Museum of Los Gatos on March 27th. Dawn Maxson gave us a leisurely tour, beginning with the story of the handsome stone building, part of a flour mill from the 1850s that hosted rock concerts in the early 1970s.
…
Los Gatos Field Trip
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
The California and the West study group invites you to tour the exhibition at the History Museum of Los Gatos, American Bohemia: The Cats Estate in Los Gatos. The exhibition explores the storied lives of Charles Erskine Scott Wood and Sara Bard Field,
…
History Expo
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
For the first time, the Institute for Historical Study will have an information booth at the San Francisco History Expo at the Old Mint, presented by the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society on March 1 and 2, 2014, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
…
Visit to Juana Briones Exhibition
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
On January 25th about sixteen of us had the privilege of a preview tour of the new exhibition at the California Historical Society, San Francisco, guided by Executive Director Anthea Hartig with commentary by Institute member Jeanne Farr McDonnell. (More to come soon.)
…
Report on Archives Program
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
We had a good turnout at the San Francisco Main Public Library on October 10th for the program on “Treasures in Archives: Research Possibilities for Students, Teachers and Scholars.” All four speakers gave interesting presentations. Susan Goldstein spoke about the City Archives in the library’s San Francisco History Center. They have recently acquired huge amounts of records from city departments from the Police Department to the Redevelopment Agency to the Medical Examiner (coroner).
…
Public Program on Archives, October 10
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Where would historians be without archives? Come to the San Francisco Main Public Library and learn about some lesser-known archival treasures of San Francisco. Four archivists will highlight resources for local history and national history within a local setting: Chris Doan, Archivist for the Sisters of the Presentation; Susan Goldstein,
…
Annual Potluck, September 7
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
About 25 Institute members and guests gathered on Saturday, September 7th, at Margaretta Mitchell’s house on the Berkeley/Oakland border. Thank you, Gretta, for hosting us! After a sumptuous dinner we discussed possible uses for the Frank Brechka bequest. A task force was created to explore some of the options, to be chaired by Ellen Huppert.
…
Trip to Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
On August 15, a beautiful, sunny Thursday, fourteen Institute members and friends ventured to Marin County to the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center near Muir Beach. Jody Offer worked on arrangements, and David Chadwick, our long-time member, whose work on a website on Shunryu Suzuki he had summarized in a work-in-progress recently,
…
World Map, Thomas Cavendish, 1707
by
Posted in Slideshow
Posted in Slideshow
The Institute for Historical Study is a community of researchers, writers, and artists. Our common bond is a devotion to history in its many forms. Through wide-ranging programs, we share research, ideas, and practical advice and provide a public forum for the discussion of history.
…
Native American Encampment on Lake Huron, Paul Kane (1810-1871)
by
Posted in Slideshow
Posted in Slideshow
The Institute for Historical Study is a community of researchers, writers, and artists. Our common bond is a devotion to history in its many forms. Through wide-ranging programs, we share research, ideas, and practical advice and provide a public forum for the discussion of history.
…
The Old Plantation, ca. 1790, attr. to John Rose
by
Posted in Slideshow
Posted in Slideshow
The Institute for Historical Study is a community of researchers, writers, and artists. Our common bond is a devotion to history in its many forms. Through wide-ranging programs, we share research, ideas, and practical advice and provide a public forum for the discussion of history.
…
The Unicorn is Found
by
Posted in Slideshow
Posted in Slideshow
The Institute for Historical Study is a community of researchers, writers, and artists. Our common bond is a devotion to history in its many forms. Through wide-ranging programs, we share research, ideas, and practical advice and provide a public forum for the discussion of history.
Read More
…
Companions, Claude Raguet Hirst (1855-1942)
by
Posted in Slideshow
Posted in Slideshow
The Institute for Historical Study is a community of researchers, writers, and artists. Our common bond is a devotion to history in its many forms. Through wide-ranging programs, we share research, ideas, and practical advice and provide a public forum for the discussion of history.
…
Golden Gate, San Francisco Bay, Fortunato Arriola (1827-1872)
by
Posted in Slideshow
Posted in Slideshow
The Institute for Historical Study is a community of researchers, writers, and artists. Our common bond is a devotion to history in its many forms. Through wide-ranging programs, we share research, ideas, and practical advice and provide a public forum for the discussion of history.
…
Vallejo Outing April 13, 2013
by
Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Twelve Institute members had a history-filled day in Vallejo on April 13, with private viewings of two institutions: the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, where Executive Director Jim Kern gave us a tour before regular open hours, and the McCune Collection at the Vallejo Public Library. Highlights at the museum included artifacts from Mare Island (the first U.S.
…
2012 Annual Dinner Lecture Report
by
Posted in Institute Activities, Uncategorized
Posted in Institute Activities, Uncategorized
The Global Migrations of Ornamental Plants
Plants migrate across the globe by hitching rides on exported building materials, riding as seeds in the entrails of animals, stowing away in the luggage of plant-loving travelers, or simply floating on wind that sweeps across continents. Author-neurologist Judith M. Taylor not only traced the migratory movements of numerous plants but also introduced botany’s earliest explorers,
…
Sunday, August 21, 2:00 pm, Public Program via Zoom.
Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of four books: Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022); The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History); Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012); and Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2005). She writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and TIME. Before leaving academia to write full-time in 2014, she taught U.S. history and American Studies at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She grew up in Colorado but now lives in Boston with her husband and two cats.
Writing and Revising Narrative History
A Presentation by Megan Kate Nelson
Join the Mechanics' Institute and the Institute for Historical Study for this exciting talk about writing with historian Megan Kate Nelson who left academia in 2014 to become a full-time writer. During this Zoom event, she will offer advice for writers who want to publish trade history books and other pieces for general readers. Dr. Nelson will talk about how to make the transition from academic to narrative history writing, how to revise manuscripts for trade publication, and how to pitch articles and Op-eds to newspapers and magazines.
Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of four books: Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022); The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History); Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012); and Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2005). She writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and TIME. Before leaving academia to write full-time in 2014, she taught U.S. history and American Studies at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She grew up in Colorado but now lives in Boston with her husband and two cats.Sunday, November 17, 2:00 pm, Monthly Program via Zoom.
We have long used fire in rituals: sacred and secular; solemn and silly; from solstice bonfires to the Olympic torch to candles on a birthday cake. We are entering a season of ubiquitous ceremonial flames: the Hannukah menorah, the Advent wreath, the Yule log, the Kwanz’aa Kinara, the Oniyo Ceremony (Japan), Quema del Diablo (Guatemala), Up Helly Aa (Shetland Islands), and many others.
What is it about fire that makes it so central to ritual practice? Jim will reference the Von Gennep/Turner framework of three-stage ritual in addressing this question. He will explore how “eternal flames” and “new fire ceremonies,” common throughout the world, sacralize practices that go back to the days when early hominin predecessor species first learned to control fire. Fire rituals predate language and have developed in every culture in myriad ways.
Jim Gasperini is the Institute's webmaster and a member of its Board. This presentation draws from his book, Fire in the Imagination—From the Burning Bush to Burning Man. See more about Jim’s background and this work in progress at jimgasperini.com.
Fire Rituals—Theory and Practice
A presentation by Jim Gasperini
In a ritual to protect against disease, horses have been raced through fire in a Spanish village each spring since the 17th century
Jim Gasperini is the Institute's webmaster and a member of its Board. This presentation draws from his book, Fire in the Imagination—From the Burning Bush to Burning Man. See more about Jim’s background and this work in progress at jimgasperini.com.You are welcome to invite friends and colleagues to attend.
We need a volunteer to write a short report on the presentation for the newsletter. If you would like to volunteer, please contact the program coordinator (Dan Kohanski).
The presentation will be recorded, and posted on YouTube. If you don’t want to be on the recording, just make sure your video is off. And please remember to mute your microphone!