Collection Gems

Forty Years of Documenting Berkeley History

The exhibit opens May 20 with a talk by Betty Reid Soskin, the nation’s oldest serving Park Ranger.

Sunday, May 20, 2018
2 to 4 pm
1931 Center Street, Berkeley

Join us for our 40th Anniversary Celebration event, featuring the launch of the new Collection Gems exhibit, the unveiling of the History Center’s first permanent exhibit, and a talk from Betty Reid Soskin. Collection Gems: Forty Years of Documenting Berkeley History will run from May 20 through October 13. It will display a wide variety of materials – historical “gems” – collected over the past four decades. The new permanent exhibit is a pictorial timeline of Berkeley’s history, serving as a brief but compelling introduction to the city’s history for visitors.

The celebration marks the Society’s 40th anniversary since its founding in the summer of 1978. A group of local history enthusiasts – starting as the ad-hoc Berkeley Centennial Celebration Committee – founded the Society without a permanent home or collection. In August 1992, after many years of existing in school district temporary buildings, the Historical Society finally moved to the current location in the Veterans’ Memorial Building at 1931 Center Street. Today, the non-profit, all-volunteer group continues the original mission of researching, preserving and sharing Berkeley’s unique history through exhibits, lectures, walking tours, and publications.

The anniversary event will also include a talk from Betty Reid Soskin, 96, who is best known as the oldest serving National Park Ranger. In addition to reading from her recently published memoir, Sign My Name to Freedom, Soskin will discuss her years living in postwar Berkeley, involvement in Berkeley activism, and role as a founder of Reid’s Records, one of the oldest African American-owned and operated businesses in the Bay Area.

Berkeley Historical Society 40th Anniversary Celebration

Talk by Betty Reid Soskin, author and oldest serving National Park Ranger
Launch of new exhibit, Collection Gems: Forty Years of Documenting Berkeley History
Unveiling of permanent illustrated Timeline of Berkeley History
Refreshments provided

RSVPs encouraged through Facebook or Eventbrite.

Admission free, donations welcome; wheelchair accessible

Berkeley Historical Society and Berkeley History Center
1931 Center Street, Berkeley
Telephone: 510-848-0181

Mailing address: P.O. Box 1190, Berkeley, CA 94701

E-mail: info@berkeleyhistoricalsociety.org

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See the CALENDAR page for BHS events and other local events of interest.

For past exhibits and events, see our Web Archive.