Our collections support the mission of the Society to collect, preserve, interpret, publish and exhibit materials about California and to provide an invaluable record of the various histories of the people of this state.

• The Fine Arts Collection includes over 5,000 works of art that represent the history and art history of California from pre-Gold Rush days to the early decades of the twentieth century. The collection is comprised of oil paintings, drawings, costumes, lithographs, and decorative arts.
  
  
• The Research Collections, consisting of our Library and Photography Collections, contain material relating to the history of California and the West from the early exploration to present time. The collections are open to the public Wednesday - Friday, noon - 5:00 p.m.
  
  
• The Photography Collection contains nearly half a million images in array of photographic formats documenting the history of California in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  
  
• The North Baker Research Library contains historical texts, manuscripts, maps, and several special collections found nowhere else in the country.
  
  To view CHS's Collection Management Policy, please click here.