The Santa Monica Historical Society was founded in 1975 as part of the city’s centennial celebration with the mission of collecting and preserving the history, art and culture of the Santa Monica Bay Area. In 1988, a Museum was established to house the Society’s growing collections of artifacts, documents, rare books, newspapers, textiles, artwork, and photographic images. Currently, the Museum’s…

The SCGS Library holds nearly 40,000 volumes, with a relatively small portion of the material related to LA. We have published indices to cemetery records, vital (birth, death and marriage) records, and immigration and naturalization. We provide free access to some data on our website. The Society is in the midst of a project to recreate the 1890 Census for Los Angeles County. The census records…

The collection consists of records and artifacts pertaining to the history of The Jonathan Club, a social club founded in Los Angeles in 1896 and currently serving 4,000 members. Included are thousands of photographs of members and member events, a full run of the Jonathan Magazine (1931-present), some early rosters and registers of Club activities, and realia from various club headquarters and…