San Diego Historical Society Reviews

Great little museum with a great pricing sturcture. Donation based so you leave a donation once you have viewed the exibits. Great to learn abiut San Diego and the surroundings in Balboa Park. Nice staff, great exibits and a cool place out of the sun to check out.

The San Diego History Center features a number of exhibitions for the year 2015, including "Ingenious, The Art of Dr. Seuss" "Masterworks of the Exhibition Era" which features plein-air California landscapes that were exhibited at the 1915 exhibition and a great display which tells the history of the 1915 Panama California Exposition. A really fun place for families, children's activities as well as art & history for adults.

Great museum to learn about San Diego history! I enjoy that the themes change on occasion as well to keep the experience fresh.

The San Diego History Center has some very interesting displays about the history of our beautiful city. The exhibits involving the mountain communities of Julian and Cuyamaca, describing their connection with the local gold rush, were highly illuminating. More over, I was concerned for who the museum's staff gave the ultimate showcase, rather than utilizing the actual historical facts.
I thought that the museum staff's method of emphasizing various ethnic groups contribution over the larger collective populace, failed to fully elucidate and advocate a sense of inclusiveness within our society as a whole. Personally, I was surprised that these particular staff members would have made this choice.


I thought that the method of emphasizing various ethnic groups contributing to the largest collective population of museum staff, could not fully elucidate and advocate a sense of inclusion within our society as a whole. Personally, I was surprised that these particular officials would have made this choice.

Really fun, I love walking through the time events the Hands-On ones Superfund to guess the smells and the sounds they even have an LGBT area

Like the men's museum, not very big, so to speak, but still excellent

Amazing, educational, beautiful and definitely worth checking out. Found out so many things about the making and building of Balboa park and the city of san diego itself. Every last person who works here and or volunteers here were absolutely off the charts. Extremely helpful and courteous. There is so much to check out here. Just make sure you plan ahead of time because its alot to check out and take in.

Very interesting with an assortment of very old and new Chinese items. History of Chinese in San Diego. Terrific paintings by Chinese artist. Small but worthwhile museum.

The trophy ...defying the ocean...for victory.....Welcome travelers and tourist to beautiful San Diego...and Thank You for viewing ....D Third Eye

Absolutely learned nothing about the history of San Diego. No mention of Spreckels, no coverage of the history of the port, no mention the history of the gaslamp, no mention of the military history. I learned more about the Indian history in the small, one room museum in Poway. Very little coverage of the Mexican ranchero history. Again, a different museam in Poway park is much more informative. Visit either of the missions or the Presidio to learn more history. Even hotel Del Coronado has better historical information.

It is a very beautiful place where you can enjoy a walk

Great museum. We wanted to learn more about San Diego on a rainy day but learned more than we expected. I especially enjoyed the exhibit on the long history of lgbtq+ in San Diego and the stories of women who moved to the town when it was just beginning.

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I went for the Japanese cherry blossoms festival and it was just beautiful. We walked through the Japanese gardens got our grub on from the Patina Group's special catering for the event (bento boxes!! :D), then made our way to the boddy house which was a pleasant surprise. It's the house of the people who donated the land for the gardens and its a this amazingly modern and yet awesomely mod. Def check it out!! after that we wandered over through the rose garden and the californian vegetation. Don't miss all the beautiful magnolias and CHECK OUT THE LILAC GARDEN!! your nose will thank me!!

The San Diego History Center tells the diverse story of our region past, present and future educates and enriches our community, preserves our history, and fosters civic pride.

The History Center is the steward of our heritage and the principal resource for San Diego history collecting, preserving and displaying unparalleled collections of regional history. No other institution is solely devoted to preserving San Diego s collective history and enhancing community identity. A unique civic resource committed to public engagement and collaboration, the History Center partners with other museums, San Diego and regional school districts, other historical organizations, media, businesses and corporations to deliver programs to the broadest audience.

It was alright... Nothing particularly stood out or caught my eye. We left after about 15 minutes. Not much to see here, to be honest.

Free little museum. Couple of exhibits. About half a hour of information to tour. Was interesting to find out that none of the buildings in the park are at all historical even though they look it. It's all about the tourism. Pretty funny.

A little gem hiding in Balboa Park. The admission cost is pay-what-you-wish. They have a number of different exhibitions and they are well put together. Definitely going back.

Cozy place, but right in the heart of the Prado area. Great history and cool exhibit for the Makers Faire.

It has a lot of history of, you guessed it San Diego. The employees are so well taught and the have these great artifacts to look at and learn

Enjoyed the short video presentation about San Diego and Balboa Park history.

The museum's collections are the Historic Clothing and Textile Collection, which includes over 7,000 items illustrating the history of dress from the late 18th century to the present, and the San Diego Fine Art Collection, notable for its early 20th century plein air paintings, with works by Maurice Braun, Alfred Mitchell, Charles Fries, Belle Baranceanu, Charles Reiffel, Alice Klauber, and Donal Hord.[8]

In addition to its museum exhibits, the History Center maintains a research library and archives serving residents, scholars, students and researchers. The Document Archives, the region s largest collection of historical materials, holds over 45 million documents including public and architectural records, books, maps, scrapbooks, manuscripts, newspapers, ephemera, diaries and oral history

This was a fun muesem to learn more about San Diego. It's not super big so it's quick to go through and see how the town came to be and what life was like. Also it had a small exhibit on the lesser known events of what happened to the Japanese immigrants after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it's nice to have some light shown on this. Great exhibit for the LBGQT community and lots of information about how the community grew and finally won the respect they deserved!

They got one room which tells the history of the county, the rest were kind of random. There is a 30 minute video which was quite nice as well. Free attendance, at least on Sunday when I went.

This place was great. My kids spent about an hour and a half going through the hands on exhibits and exploring the museum. Very clean and pleasant place.

What an interesting and varied free little history center! I really enjoyed the temporary LGBT exhibit and I thought it was both disheartening and inspirational. The tiny section on Japanese society in San Diego was really cool too (so funny to think of Japanese sushi and tacos being served together at family parties).
There was some interesting facts on settlers in San Diego and some beautiful murals as well!
Was disappointed in the gift shop - really boring generic stuff for sale in comparison to all the random interesting things to see in the museum itself. I think it would ve been so cool to recreate and sell some of those vintage LGBT tshirts designs on display for example

Outstanding, interesting and visually enjoyable. Great for kids and adults. So much information. Join and get all the benefits as well as giving to a non profit. So much to do and see.

Wonderful. Went for the GLBT Q exhibit,and,was NOT.

Free parking, free admission, Spanish square, a lot of beautiful streets, a lot of beautiful buildings, a lot of cafes !!!

Two terrific current exhibitions, one covering the work of San Diego conceptual artist Bill Matheny, which just opened today and a second about the LGBTQ+ community in San Diego and second the growth and a accomplishments of the LGBTW+ community in San Diego. Absolutely fascinating and so well done. Be sure to see them!

One room focuses on history on an architect, one room on San Diego history, one room on Jewish history, another on the San Diego Zoo and finally a small alcove on Black history. All in all, everything is well laid out. You can start on the left as you enter and walk through everything except the zoo and the alcove. They are easy to get to though as you continue.

Do the Friday ghost tour with sandy, a historian who has done impress research into the people and places! Far above the televised, gimmicky ghost hunts. The tour rambles through the district, ending at the museum with time communicating with the willing in-house ghosts

Free or donation based. Nice collection with good diversity

The exhibits were great. They were informative and grabbed the attention of all ages. The staff was all friendly and helpful.

Small museum but well kept with some great pieces. Definitely a must.

The best place I've been. I learn something everytime I go in.

Very cool little museum and its a Blue Star, so free for military in the summer months

I left San Diego formation about San Diego at the San Diego History Center. It was worth the trip.

A really great place to learn some of San Diego's history. It is very inclusive and the center knows that history is all kinds of people's stories. The staff is very friendly and the center is donation based.

Excellent option to know the history of the city and the San Diego region, suitable for children. Free entry.

The new LGBT exhibit is worth a trip to the park. (But the park is always worth a trip!)

Saw the LGBT exhibit. Very beautiful and informative.

Great museum at a great price [free]. Well not technically free but you pay what you want upon exiting. We ended up spending an hour here with the various exhibits and short film on San Diego and Balboa park. I've walked by this place dozens of times and never explored but I am glad that I finally went inside. Upon leaving a left $10 and it was definitely worth it.

Nice little museum. The movie provides one with a nice history of the park.

A great way to learn more about San Diego's rich cultural heritage and history

While this museum is well put together, It just doesn't have anything to say "Hey, check this out!" The Seuss exhibit is aimed towards families and children, and while there were a few interesting artifacts in the History section (check out the giant guest book), it was a LOT of reading.

Good place to learn about history. Although very little information presented. I think it lacks a good curator review.