Be Part of a Legacy of History

Since its founding in 1919, the Historical Society has been committed to building a research repository providing primary source materials that tell the diverse story of Central California.

Society members and friends play an essential role in expanding the Archives’ resources through donations and in preserving these unique materials through contributions.

Friends of the Archives partner with the Historical Society in preserving and sharing our Valley’s heritage by:

Providing Contributions

Friends of the Archives have made generous donations over the past several years targeting preservation of these specific collections:

The 1860 Fresno County Census

The Edward Smith Diary, an account of Smith’s 1848 overland journey to California

William Harvey Family Manuscript Collection (contributor is a great grand-daughter of Fresno pioneer William Harvey)

The Fresno Historical Society’s La Paloma Guild provided funding for archival supplies to house family collections, photographs collections, and records of women’s clubs and civic organizations.

Donating a Collection

If you have historical materials you would like to discuss donating with our Archivist or Curator of Collections, please complete the Potential Donation Questionnaire or call the Society office at 559-441-0862.

Highlights of Recent Donations

• Records of the All-Slavonic American Association (est. 1904)
• Collection of over 3,000 California/national agricultural journals and magazines
• Jack Stone Photograph Collection (donor’s photographs, over 300 images with a focus on ag development of the Valley’s West Side, digitized by Society staff and volunteers)
• Vartanian Family Papers (early Armenian family in Fresno), part of the Frank Caglia Collection.

Funding a Project

Please call the Society office to talk with the Society’s Director and Archivist about specific projects that are on our “wish list” including:

• As the Archives continues to digitize its collections and outreach into the Valley’s communities to capture and preserve the images of our people and their history, funding is needed for equipment such as a portable scanner, a laptop computer, and an external drive.
  
• History books for our reference collection
  
• Archival supplies to house the Family Photograph Collections

Studio Portrait, Unidentified Woman,
Circa 1885. Photographer: E.R. Higgins.
Fresno Historical Society Archives