Shaping San Francisco

Mission

Serving the City for 25 years,Serving the City for 25 years, Shaping San Francisco is a participatory community history project documenting overlooked stories of San Francisco.  We define history as a creative act in the present, informing how we would like to live in the future. Our digital archive and historical walking and bicycle tours bring people together to learn how the City is shaped through the efforts of engaged citizens and from a perspective rooted in its overlooked and forgotten histories

Featured Fun

In addition to their in-person walk on Saturday, September 26, 2020 (see below), Shaping San Francisco is featuring curated selections from it scollection

1. FoundSF Digital Archive

Comprised of over 2,000 pages, and over 5,000 historical photos, the wiki-based archive is the product of hundreds of contributors, regular people who were compelled by the chance to investigate some piece of this City’s past.

2. Ecology Emerges

Discussions and reflections on the 50 years of Bay Area ecological activism.

Through oral history gathering Ecology Emerges gives us new insight into a long-term evolution of human society based in our backyard of the Bay Area. We are interested in the role that individual and institutional memories play in the development, policy proposals, and interrelationships that together make up the existing networks of ecological politics. We documented the living ecological activist movement, in their own words, but also in a larger frame of urban growth and globalization. Explore thematic videos, listen to podcasts, or hear 28 participants respond to the questions we had for them.

3. Shaping San Francisco’s Oral History Collection

Shaping San Francisco, as part of our ongoing work, sits down with people who have stories to tell and conducts oral history interviews. From San Francisco State student activists to longshoreman, from politically-engaged artists to experimental filmmakers, from urban farmers to radical feminists, these are truly unique San Francisco stories.

SOLD OUT. Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 12:00PM – (In-Person) Black Point and Fort Mason with Shaping San Francisco SOLD OUT

We traverse the grounds of the old military base and discover histories of farms, soldiers, abolitionists, and a lost lagoon. From the Fontana Towers to Aquatic Park we discuss urban development, ecology, slavery, World’s Fairs, and militarism.
Led by Chris Carlsson and LisaRuth Elliott

SOLD OUT. This event is free but pre-registration is required and we have limited capacity. SOLD OUT.