The California State Military Museum is located just blocks from the State Capitol in the Old Sacramento State Historical Park and is operated for the California State Military Department by the California Military Museum Foundation, a IRS Code 501c(3) non-profit educational organization. Supported by the California Center for Military History, the museum is also a part of the United States Army Museum System and is the official military museum and historical research center for the State of California.
In addition to its facilities in Sacramento, the California State Military Museum also operates and maintains four satellite museums: Camp Roberts Museum and Annex in Monterey County; Camp San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo County; the 40th Infantry Division Museum at the Joint Forces Training Base (Los Alamitos) in Orange County; and the 185th Armor and 251st Coast Artillery Regimental Museum in San Diego County.
Today the main museum complex houses over 30,000 military artifacts as well a substantial library and archives. Housed within the museum complex is the Major General Walter P. Story Memorial Library and Research Center, with a collection of over 15,000 volumes dealing with topics that range from general military history to very specific and one of a kind works, such as original unit rosters of early California Militia units.
The California State Military Museum and Major General Walter P. Story Memorial Library and Research Center is a proud affiliate of the American Heritage Library and Museum. Our library collection is uniquely connected with the American Heritage Library and Museum, making these collections the finest collections of its type in the western United States.
Thanks to the support of the Governor, the State Legislature, and The Adjutant General, the California State Military Museum has one of the most active and innovative educational programs in the United States. We are in the process of taking the history out of the museum and are putting it into the classroom through the Internet with our California Military History Online website and through such programs as the World War II Submarine Veterans History Project and California Military History Educational Project. These programs have been recognized by the Chief of Military History, United States Army as a model for other states to follow.
Produced in consort with the California State Military Museum, the California Military History Educational Project is a California State Legislative Grant-funded joint effort of the California State Military Museum, California State University Los Angeles, and the University of California at San Diego Supercomputer Center. The Project is aimed at teaching K-14 students about the importance of a civilian controlled military in our nation's history and the critical role California has played in that history. Upon its completion, the California Military History Educational Project will not only provide teachers, students and researchers access to the video reminiscences of our nation's veterans, but its educational web site will chronicle California's entire military history --from the Spanish period to the present day.
This innovative interactive online multi-media educational resource will ultimately include a "virtual field trip" of California's military history using on-line lesson plans and study units, examinations and discussion questions, teacher resource kits, oral histories, photo archives, data banks and special collections to promote the study of areas of historical importance. Ultimately, students will access to letters and diaries, photographs, military archives and other online data banks available through the California State Military Museum, enabling students to substantiate their research. The long-term goals of these projects are to dramatically advance the means by which we collect, store, and organize information in digital forms, and then to make them readily available for searching, retrieval, and processing via communication networks.
Among some of the museum's programs includes Museum Tours and its Speaker Program which provides speakers for schools, veterans groups, military units, and other civic organizations.
California State Military Museum
California State Military Museum
1119 Second Street
Sacramento, California 95814
(916) 442-2883
Library and Museum Hours
Tuesday-Thurday, Sunday
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.The museum is open Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day regardless of the day of the week. The museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Easter.
Related Pages
American Heritage Library and Museum
California State Military Museum Website
Camp Roberts Museum and Annex
Camp San Luis Obispo Museum
40th Infantry Division Museum
185th Armor and 251st Coast Artillery Regimental Museum
Major General Walter P. Story Memorial Library and Resource Center
