The heart of Institute activities is the monthly work-in-progress meeting, where members share their work and receive comments.  The presentation may be in the form of a paper to be delivered later at a conference; an outline of a longer work; a draft of a chapter or article; a rough cut of a video; or an idea looking for a format.  These popular meetings are held in members' homes in the San Francisco Bay Area:  San Francisco, the East Bay, Marin County, or on the Peninsula.

 

 

We also present at least one public program per year.  Topics have included California immigration history, literary San Francisco, Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Western movie.  These programs are co-sponsored with other institutions, including the California Historical Society, San Francisco Public Library, International House Berkeley, Mills College, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Labor Archives, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

 

 

The Institute mounts seminars for its members, taught by one or several members.  These have sometimes led to public programs, as in the case of a seminar on Berlin in the Twenties, which resulted in a lecture series at the Goethe Institute, or one on the French Revolution, which generated a film series at the Legion of Honor and an exhibit at the University of California Berkeley library.

 

The Institute also organizes conferences for independent scholars, workshops on topics like publishing, orientations to various libraries and archives, and tours of monuments and exhibits.  It assists members in forming panels for regional conferences.

 

 

Additionally, the Institute sponsors the following study groups: