Museum of the City of San Francisco

The Museum of the City of San Francisco is a nonprofit museum containing a collection of historic artifacts related to San Francisco.[1] It was founded by Gladys Hansen, who was the city archivist of San Francisco. The executive director is Richard Hansen, Gladys's son.[2]

History

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The Museum of the City of San Francisco was founded in 1991 by Gladys Hansen, who had recently retired as the city archivist of San Francisco. It was recognized as the official historical museum of San Francisco by the Board of Supervisors in 1995.[3] The museum had a small exhibit space at The Cannery (a former Del Monte fruit-canning plant that is now a shopping center) until 2000, when it lost its lease.[4] It then had temporary exhibits at Pier 45 (near Fisherman's Wharf) and at San Francisco City Hall.[5]

In February 2002, the Museum of the City of San Francisco merged with the San Francisco Historical Society to create the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society.[6] San Francisco municipal government recognized the newly merged organization as the official historical museum of San Francisco, since it was the successor to the Museum of the City of San Francisco.[3] One of the purposes of the merger of the two organizations was to put together a single proposal to renovate and operate the Old San Francisco Mint as a history museum,[5][7] which ultimately did not succeed.[8][9]

Notwithstanding the merger, the Museum of the City of San Francisco's website, operated directly by Gladys Hansen, remained independent and in 2003 renamed itself the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.[10] Hansen's personal research collection of artifacts from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake also remained in her possession.[11] In 2013, it started partnering with the Bethlehem Shipyard Museum on exhibits,[12] and it displayed some of its artifacts in the San Francisco History Museum, near Union Square.[13]

In 2019, the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco dropped "Virtual" from its name and reverted to its original name,[14] after the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society dropped "Museum" from its name and reverted to its original name.[15]

References

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  1. ^ "The Museum of the City of San Francisco". Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  2. ^ "About the Museum". The Museum of the City of San Francisco. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Resolution recognizing and supporting the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society as the official historical museum of the City and County of San Francisco (Resolution Number 145-02)" (PDF). San Francisco Board of Supervisors. January 29, 2002. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  4. ^ Rubenstein, Steve (February 17, 2000). "S.F. Museum Packs It Up At Cannery". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Epstein, Edward (June 2, 2003). "Dreaming of a city museum: An exhibit of S.F. history may find a home in the Old Mint". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  6. ^ "Minutes of the November 14, 2002 Meeting". San Francisco Museum and Historical Society Advisory Committee. November 14, 2002. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ Martinfield, Seán (November 21, 2007). "The Old Mint – Breathing New Life Into "The Granite Lady"". San Francisco Sentinel. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  8. ^ Nolte, Carl (March 21, 2015). "End of the line for S.F. group trying to restore the Old Mint". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  9. ^ Johnson, Lizzie (1 April 2016). "California Historical Society to take on fixing up the Old Mint". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  10. ^ "About the Museum". Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. Archived from the original on August 23, 2003.
  11. ^ "Minutes of the January 29, 2003 Meeting". San Francisco Museum and Historical Society Advisory Committee. January 29, 2003. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ^ Museum of the City of San Francisco; Bethlehem Shipyard Museum (August 2013). "Slivers of San Francisco History" (PDF). Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  13. ^ Bragman, Bob (March 13, 2013). "A Rich Addition to Union Square – The San Francisco History Museum". SF Gate. Retrieved March 14, 2021. "The 1906 Earthquake collection of Gladys and Richard Hansen" referenced in the article is from the Museum of the City of San Francisco.
  14. ^ Compare the logo on the home page of the Museum of the City of San Francisco on December 2, 2019 to December 27, 2019, via the Internet Archive
  15. ^ Compare the logo on the home page of the San Francisco Historical Society on January 22, 2019 to March 16, 2019, via the Internet Archive
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