Introduction

Since 1933, the Monterey County Historical Society has been collecting information on local history. Over the years, we have shared this information with the people of the Central California coast in a variety of ways, and now are working to make it available to the worldwide community through the internet.

Primary navigation within this site is from four main pages using the navigation bar at the bottom of each page:

This website is “Under Construction.” It will never be finished–there is simply too much history and too little time. We will do our best to include topics of general interest to students writing term papers as well as individuals looking for a specific ancestor, and everything in between. Our goal is to make this the premier local history website in California.

However, this will take time. We are working on this as a “spare time” project, while trying to build a new museum, restore old buildings, publish some books, and keep up with the day-to-day operation of the historical society.

We regret we cannot do specific research projects for students with deadlines, but we will try to provide the information and resources for you to do your own research.

Researchers who need to use the documents in the archival vault are always welcome (by appointment). We have a massive collection of documents — we have so much material that we are being forced to expand our 1,000 square foot vault, as we are running out of room. Our holdings are well organized, and we are happy to share them with researchers. Some of our holdings are indexed here.

Appointments may be made by calling the Monterey County Historical Society at (831) 757-8085.