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SF’s Rare 2-Day Only Museum

A rare public viewing of artifacts from SF & Bay Area history
By - posted 7/16/2016 No Comment

See seldom seen pieces of San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo history at this rare public viewing  of artifacts that are typically in storage at the GGNRA’s permanent museum collection.

Discover items recently recovered from park lands, view rarely-seen FBI artifacts from the 1962 escape from Alcatraz, and learn about the unique techniques, challenges, and sometimes dangers of working with historic materials that range in sizes from small seeds to Nike missiles.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area Museum Archives Open House
Sunday & Monday, July 17-18, 2016 | 10 am-4 pm
Park Archives and Museum Offices, Presidio Bldg 667 (Intersection of McDowell and Cowles Street) SF
FREE

Exhibit Highlights

  • Items from Sutro Baths (one of the bathing suits and a taxidermied monkey from the old museum),
  • Items from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
  • Historic armaments and artillery shells used by soldiers and the guns at coastal defense sights
  • FBI evidence from Alcatraz including actual artifacts from the 1962 escape from Alcatraz, including sharpened spoon handles, one of the fake cell vent covers, and a vest the cons used to float away.
  • Preserved examples of natural resources
  • Materials recovered from park archaeological sites
  • Information on how to preserve and store your own family’s history
  • Browse thousands of historic images

About the Golden Gate Museum

The Golden Gate NRA holds one of the largest collections in the National Park Service with a total of nearly 6.5 million items in four disciplines: Archives, Archaeology, History, and Natural History. Materials document the San Francisco Bay Area’s extensive history on both sides of the Golden Gate Strait from the early prehistory of native tribes, through the military presence of three different nations, to the events and decisions that shaped the culture of San Francisco and its surrounding areas.

The Park Archives and Records Center is typically only open to the public on Mondays from 1-4 pm and Thursdays from 10 am-1 pm.