California Historical Society To Honor 'Founding Mother Of San Francisco' Juana Briones With Six-Month Exhibition Beginning January 26th

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Juana Briones, one of California's first Latina pioneers, entrepreneurs, and land­owners, will be honored with a six-month exhibition at the California Historical Society.  The exhibition, presented in partnership with Stanford University and the Bancroft Library, will open on January 26, 2014 and run through June 8, 2014.  The bilingual exhibition, the first of its kind at the California Historical Society, will feature numerous events that will inspire and engage diverse audiences and admirers from San Francisco and throughout California and the country.

The exhibition, titled "Juana Briones y Su California:  Pionera, Fundadora, Curandera," will focus on the life and times of Juana Briones (1802–1889)—pioneer, founder, healer—possibly San Francisco's first resident (when it was Yerba Buena) and one of the most important women in California in the mid-to-late 1800s.  Her challenges and accomplishments will be told in an engaging narrative and through paintings, maps, documents, and artifacts. A website to accompany the exhibition will make Briones' story available in English and Spanish to people around the globe.

Revealing the transforma­tion of California under three flags—Spain, Mexico, and the United States—the exhibition will present a vision of Juana Briones as a woman adaptable and undaunted in her pursuits.  Through her story, we will see how this multi-ethnic woman, mother, landowner, businesswoman, healer, and humanitarian influenced our state's history on a wide-ranging yet distinctively human scale. The exhibit will also trace the decades-long effort at the close of the twentieth century to oppose the destruction of the Juana Briones home site in Santa Clara County, demolished in 2011. 

"Juana Briones' power, perseverance, and compassion resonate deeply with us today, " said Dr. Anthea Hartig, Executive Director of the California Historical Society, adding "the California Historical Society is honored to pay tribute with our partners to this path-breaking woman by sharing with the public her amazing story."

Created in collaboration with Stanford University, the exhibition will bring together for the first time objects from notable collections around the state, including the Archdiocese of San Francisco; Autry National Center; Bancroft Library; Bolinas Museum; Huntington Library; Mission Dolores; Palo Alto Historical Association; Point Reyes National Seashore Museum; Society of California Pioneers; Santa Clara University Archives; Stanford University Special Collections, and the Presidio Trust.

Initial sponsors of the exhibition include Stanford University, Bancroft Library, Mechanics Bank, and the Friends of the Juana Briones House.  The California Historical Society will announce additional program and event sponsors in the coming weeks.  Organizations interested in sponsorship and special event opportunities should contact Jason Herrington at 415-357-1848, extension 217 or email [email protected]

Additional information regarding the launch of "Juana Briones y Su California:  Pionera, Fundadora, Curandera" will be announced in January 2014 in advance of the scheduled opening on January 26, including details about special events, children's education programs, and guest speaker forums.   

The California Historical Society is a 142-year-old, non-profit organization with a mission to inspire and empower people to make California's richly diverse past a meaningful part of their contemporary lives. We hold one of the top research collections on California history, which includes over 35,000 volumes of books and pamphlets, more than 4,000 manuscript collections, and about 500,000 photographs documenting California's social, cultural, economic, and political history and development, including some of the most cherished and valuable documents and images of California's past. www.californiahistoricalsociety.org

SOURCE The California Historical Society