Mission
To bring together those people who are interested in local history. To preserve the heritage of the land and the significance of its settlers. To educate the pubic about the heritage of the area.
Programs and Services
- The Historical Society educates the public about the history of the area with its official quarterly publication. The California Crier, which is distributed to 30 states. This publication contains information on a variety of topics, including early settlers, churches, schools, organizations, and business endeavors. In addition to articles, the newsletter contains photographs, news clippings and other sources to verify the information for readers.
- In cooperation with the Center in the Woods, the local senior citizen center, the Society is scheduling program events.
- The Gallagher House, site of the Society, is located at 429 Wood Street, California Borough. While not a museum, the first floor contains displays on the bottling, boat building, and coal mining industries--businesses that originated as the town was settled in 1849. A rotating display features artifacts from the Society collections featuring schools, fraternal organizations, or military memorabilia.
- The second floor of the Gallagher House is the Research Center and houses the Family History Room, the Library, and the Archives. Visitors may browse the shelves or access collections through databases on various topics. Indices are available for church records, obituaries, cemetery tombstones, funeral home records, and newspaper clippings.
- The photographic collection in the Archives contains over 45,000 photographs, indexed for easy accessibility. The subject matter is vast including early photographs of the Southwestern State Normal School , then California State Teachers College, then California University of Pennsylvania and now Penn West California. Early photographs of businesses, churches, athletes, sporting events, and people are also preserved for research.
Primary Revenue Sources
Charitable donations, grants, membership dues
Primary Fundraising Event
Pie Sale, Porch sales, WCCF Gives Day
2023 Financials
| Federal Tax ID | 25-1710596 |
| Revenue | $67,203 |
| Expenses | $20,755 |
| Net Assets | $128,200 |
Contact
| Name: | Amelia Mitchell |
|---|---|
| Title: | Treasurer |
| Email: | avm2@psu.edu |
| Website: | historicalsociety97.org |
| Phone: | 724-469-2736 |
| Address: |
429 Wood St., Box 624 California, PA 15419 |
This website contains an organizational snapshot, as well as links and contact information, for each of our participating charities. We have also included the tax identification number for each charity so Donors wishing to review more detailed financial and governance information may access the Form 990 for that charity via irs.gov.