FoundSF

Found San Francisco, on its initial public release, is the latest incarnation of Shaping San Francisco, begun in 1997 originally as a Windows-based multimedia excavation of the lost history of the city. This is the fifth iteration of the project, and has been produced in collaboration with the forthcoming San Francisco Museum and Historical Society's Museum at the Old Mint.

Found San Francisco is a living archive of the city providing people with access to its lost history. Hundreds of people have contributed stories, photos, video oral histories, and more. Through our unique approach to community history, we developed strong content on labor, ecology, transit, and dissent and how they have changed the landscape of San Francisco since the 1850s. Our project shows that history is much more than Richter scales and gold rushes.

We seek to demonstrate and reinforce the simple observation that History is a Creative Act in the Present! By this we mean that the meaning and understanding of the past is always an intellectual and social process carried out in our own time. Given the many so-called "history wars" that have beset U.S. culture in the past decades, and the frequency with which our understanding of our shared history is revised, we think it vital to invite as many people as possible into the process of literally making history. Our long-term goal is to facilitate the discovery, presentation, preservation of, and access to local history, incorporating the past into a rapidly changing future.

We look forward to your contributions to this evolving collection. You can go to our help screen and see our guidelines and learn how to use the system. If you've ever edited on Wikipedia, you'll find this quite familiar. If not, you will find it relatively easy to learn. If you would like to schedule a workshop for your community group, your classroom, or even just yourself and a few friends, please contact us.