San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum

San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum or SFPALM is located at 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, California. The San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum collects and preserves a number of materials dealing with the performing arts. Most particularly the museum emphasizes the documentation of bay area performing arts heritage and performances.

The museum offers a number of artifacts from the gold rush days when the first theater performances were held in the area to the present. The collection has more than 200 million artifacts such as books, programs, photographs, newspaper clippings, audio, video tapes, artwork, and other theater artifacts. The museum is free though donations can help support it remaining open.

The archives for San Francisco Ballet, Opera, Symphony, Stern Grove Festival, Ethnic Dance Festival, Pickle Family Circus, and Lamplighters are also a part of the museum. As an independent nonprofit company they have a variety of funding resources to help them preserve and add to their collections. Visitors can attend the museum Wednesday through Saturday 12pm to 5pm. In the Civic Center neighborhood there are other museums, art centers, and attractions to be seen before or after a stop at SFPALM.