The Institute for Historical Study was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1979 and was chartered by the State of California as a non-profit, public benefit corporation in 1980. A grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation helped support its early development.

In addition to serving its members and presenting public programs, the Institute has also been in the forefront of the independent scholarship movement. We sponsored the first West Coast conference on independent scholarship. In 1989, members of the Institute helped establish the National Coalition of Independent Scholars.

 

The Institute co-sponsored conferences with the National Coalition of Independent Scholars in 1994 and 1997.  The needs of independent scholars were, and have remained, a primary concern, but the membership has always included a number of academically affiliated scholars.

 

We have co-sponsored public programs with numerous institutions including Bay Area public libraries and museums, the California Historical Society, the Goethe Institute, Holy Names University, the University of California, Berkeley, the San Francisco Labor Archives, and San Francisco State University.