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Book Arts & Special Collections and San Francisco History Center |
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Presentation: Legacy in Lights
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The Art, History and Culture of San Francisco's Neon
Explore the vibrant history and evolving cultural significance of San Francisco’s neon signs in this illustrated talk. Learn how neon has shaped the visual identity of San Francisco’s neighborhoods and commercial corridors. Vintage signs have evolved from advertising to beloved works of public art and symbols of local history. San Francisco Neon authors Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan share stories of craftsmanship, preservation and the enduring glow of neon.
Thursday, July 16th, 2026: 6:00pm Steve Silver Music Center - 4th Floor
Main Library 100 Larkin Street busscitech@sfpl.org |
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Social: San Francisco Correspondence Co-op
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A monthly social club based in San Francisco for mail artists, letter writers and people who love the USPS. If this sounds like you, then you've come to the right place! The Correspondence Co-op is a place for like-minded folks to meet other artists and beginners in a casual setting, make some mail art and share ideas.
The SFCC meets the third Sunday of every month; no meeting in December. Sponsored by Book Arts & Special Collections.
Sunday, July 19th, 2026: 1:00pm
Learning Studio - 5th Floor
Main Library 100 Larkin Street bookarts@sfpl.org |
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Panel: Celebrate, Devour Me Again
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Free Theater, Glitter and the Angels of Light
Though Bambi Lake has passed, her voice lives on. Join the Angels of Light as they reunite for an exciting and earth-shattering panel reflecting on their lives before and after — and on the legacy captured in their work.
In 1970, the genderbending, hippie, drag performance troupe the Cockettes split. Enter the Angels of Light. Active from 1970 to 1984, the Angels of Light performance troupe was a radical offshoot that fused theater, drag and communal living into a raw, confrontational art form. They rejected commercialism in favor of free performance, creating a glitter-soaked, boundary-breaking underground that pushed the limits of gender, art and collective life.
Join panelists Tahara, Beaver Bauer and Greg Cruikshank in conversation with August Bernadicou, alongside the enduring presence of Bambi Lake through her new book Devour Me Again (Nightboat Books, 2026).
Topics include communal living, free theater, art, counterculture, hippie ideals, alternative lifestyles, the gay liberation revolution and Bambi Lake.
Tuesday, July 28th, 2026: 6:00pm
Koret Auditorium - Lower Level
Main Library 100 Larkin Street hormel@sfpl.org |
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Current and Upcoming Exhibits |
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Sidewalk Stories:
San Francisco, 1970s - 1980s
May 22, 2026 - July 16, 2026
San Francisco History Center Exhibit Space - 6th Floor
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Photograph by Karen Marshall.
Sidewalk Stories invites you into San Francisco’s streets of the 1970s–1980s, where four photographers turn everyday moments into enduring images. Their photographs balance chance and intention, revealing humor, irony and the subtle distance between strangers as public and private entwine. Neighborhoods, architecture and passersby shape layered stories of place and community. Featuring Phiz Mezey, Karen Marshall, John Harding and Andrew Ritchie, the photography exhibit captures a specific time while reflecting a shared commitment to the city’s rhythms and contradictions.
Vintage photographs on view from the San Francisco History Center’s photography collection.
This exhibit is a satellite display that connects to the exhibition The Continuing Story of Life on Earth: 25 Years of Hamburger Eyes, on view in the Jewett Gallery on the Lower Level from April 23 - Sept. 24, 2026. |
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This Must Be the Place:
Photography in Print Media May 15, 2026 - August 27, 2026
Book Arts & Special Collections exhibit space – 6th Floor & San Francisco History Center Exhibit Space - 6th Floor
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Photograph by Ingeborg Gerdes, San Francisco Camera: Photographs from The San Francisco Art Institute, No. 2 (1969).
In the 1960s and 1970s, changes in printing technology reduced production costs and made photographic reproduction more accessible to small publishers. As a result, photographs circulated with increasing frequency through little magazines, underground newspapers and independently produced journals.
Across the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, locally produced publications incorporated photography into emerging print networks. The underground press placed photographs alongside unfolding political and cultural events, while other titles positioned photography within broader literary and intellectual contexts. Tabloid-format pages, newsprint production and independent distribution shaped how photographs were seen and handled.
Explore an array of photographs ranging from artistic to journalistic in this exhibition sourced from our Book Arts and Special Collections and the San Francisco History Center.
This exhibit is a satellite display that connects to the exhibition The Continuing Story of Life on Earth: 25 Years of Hamburger Eyes, on view in the Jewett Gallery on the Lower Level from April 23–Sept. 24, 2026. |
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The Unbuilding Archive:
Liberated Futures for the Site of Compton's Cafeteria Riot June 4, 2026 - October 22, 2026
James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center - 3rd Floor |
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Image: Ach Kab, The Unbuilding Archive, 2026, digital collage. Source images: Jennifer Cheek (1993); A.D. Bache (1853); Rincon Hill Panorama (c. 1851/1910), OpenSFHistory.
The Unbuilding Archive marks the 60th anniversary of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria riot, the first well-documented trans and queer uprising against police violence in the country, at the crossroads of Turk and Taylor Streets in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. Today, the building at 101-121 Taylor Street is occupied by GEO Group, the largest private prison corporation in the country and main contractor with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to operate detention centers, continuing an occupation of carceral power at a site of historic resistance.
In response, the TurkxTaylor Initiative and the broader Compton’s x Coalition have emerged to liberate the site and imagine an alternative future that honors its legacy of resistance. We approach the building as a microcosm where interconnected structures of oppression—colonialism, capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and ableism—can be dismantled at a local scale to uncover possibilities for collective liberation.
This exhibition centers trans liberation while recognizing that all systems of domination are intertwined. We begin with the building’s current carceral occupation, tracing its transformation back to its construction in 1908, and grounding our imagination in the land itself by honoring the Ramaytush Ohlone stewardship. From that space, we share speculative works developed through community workshops, drawing from Susan Stryker’s archival materials, and offering expansive visions for transforming Compton’s into a space where liberated futures can be imagined and built together. |
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Rooted in San Francisco:
10 Years of the Legacy Business Program
May 30, 2026 - August 21, 2026
Art, Music & Recreation Center Exhibit Space - 4th Floor |
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Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2026, the Legacy Business Program is the first initiative of its kind in the nation, inspiring nearly three dozen cities to create similar programs. Established in San Francisco, it honors and supports for-profit and nonprofit businesses that have operated in the city for 30 years or more. Today, the program includes over 500 Legacy Businesses.
This exhibition brings together archival photographs, artwork, memorabilia and other materials from a selection of these businesses, offering a glimpse into their histories and contributions to San Francisco’s neighborhoods and rich cultural identity.
From family-run storefronts to long-standing neighborhood institutions, Legacy Businesses reflect the stories, resilience and evolution of the communities they serve. Together, they highlight the vital role small businesses play in shaping the city’s economic and cultural landscape. |
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More Exhibits Where You'll Find SF History Center Archives
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Destination: San Francisco
May 9, 2026 - January 10, 2027 SFO International Terminal
Aviation Museum & Library, Departures Level 3 - Pre-Security |
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SFO Museum has partnered with SFPL's San Francisco History Center and local historian and former San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic John King on a new exhibition, Destination: San Francisco. The exhibition offers a vibrant look at how our city built its identity as a world‑class travel destination—tracing decades of promotional efforts from iconic brochures and bold graphic design to imaginative marketing campaigns. The San Francisco History Center's San Francisco Travel Association Records collection provided rich context for this story .
This exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to see how SFPL’s archival collections are interpreted and brought to life in a museum setting. If you can, take time to visit SFO and explore the city’s travel history.
Pre‑security access; no ticket required. Read the press release for more information. |
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The contemporary version of the Declaration of Independence; second printing known as the Goddard Broadside. This letterpress copy is printed by Mindy Belloff at Intima Press, July 4, 2010 as designed & printed by Katharine Goddard, Baltimore, MD, January 18, 1777.
In the Grabhorn Collection on the History of Printing & the Development of the Book
On January 18, 1777, the Continental Congress ordered the second printing of the Declaration of Independence. This document is outstanding as the only one titled Unanimous, after New York finally cast its vote, and as the very first printing to publically reveal the names of the signers. Also unique is the printer, Mary Katharine Goddard, a highly respected press woman, journalist, and postmistress, whose design in two-columns set it apart. Only nine known copies of the original Goddard Broadside exist today.
To honor Mary Katharine, Mindy Belloff spent a year researching and accurately reproducing this 18th-century design, creating the first accurate facsimile edition of the Goddard Declaration. In 2010, Intima Press published a second unambiguous edition proclaiming 'all People are created equal.'
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World Cup 2026!
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San Francisco History Center, Book Arts & Special Collections
Main Library, 6th Floor 100 Larkin San Francisco, CA 94102 |
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