Description
Consists of correspondence; financial records and
reports; planing committee minutes; San Francisco Recreation Commission records;
concert records, programs, and posters; scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings
and ephemera; and photographs, all of which were created or collected by the Stern
Grove Festival Association (SGFA) between the years 1931 and 1984. Collection
materials document the inception, administration, and activities of the SGFA, and
the history of the open-air concerts produced by the organization in San Francisco
since 1932. Significant figures represented include past SGFA presidents Rosalie
Meyer Stern, Elise S. Haas, and Rhoda H. Goldman; San Francisco Superintendent of
Recreation Josephine D. Randall; and conductor Arthur Fielder. The collection also
contains professional photographs of performances by groups such as the San
Francisco Ballet and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, some of which were taken
by Gabriel Moulin Studios.
Background
In 1931 Rosalie Meyer Stern purchased a historic parcel of land situated at the
intersection of Sloat Boulevard and 19th Avenue in the southwestern portion of San
Francisco. This twelve-acre tract was the only undeveloped area left on the former
160-acre Greene family ranch, homesteaded in 1849. Located on the property was the
Trocadero Inn, built in 1892. The inn enjoyed a reputation during the 1890s as a
fashionable recreation and picnic spot for prominent San Franciscans. The Trocadero,
as it was then called, offered such diversions as fishing and boating on a
spring-fed lake, as well as food and lodging. By 1906, however, the inn began to
lose its appeal and gradually acquired an unsavory reputation. The inn finally
closed in 1916 and it was not until Rosalie Stern purchased the ranch that the inn
regained its original splendor.
Extent
26 boxes, 17 oversize boxes (16 linear feet)
Restrictions
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Director of Library and Archives, North Baker
Research Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco,
CA 94105. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the
owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from
the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Availability
CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates: https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/