In 1965 a group interested in the archaeology of our local area organized as the San Luis Obispo Amateur Archaeological Society under the direction of Boyd Wettlaufer, an archaeologist from Canada teaching at the San Luis Obispo High School. In November, 1971 this group officially organized as a 501 (c) (3) corporation in California as the San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society. During these early years archaeology was being performed mainly by educational institutions. In our case the directors of excavations of the Society were associated either with California Polytechnic State University or with Cuesta College. During the 1970s a newly enacted law, California Environmental Quality Act - CEQA, caused the decline of educationally sponsored excavations in favor of business enterprises organized to handle the wide environmental concerns addressed in CEQA. The Society has not sponsored an archaeological excavation since the mid 1970s and no longer feels it is necessary.

In the 1970s the Society became a partner with Cuesta College in the renovation of the Hollister Adobe, which is located on the Cuesta College Campus. Beside playing a primary role in the renovation process, the Society operates and maintains the Museum and collection that the Hollister Adobe houses. In exchange for our participation, the Society was allowed to keep our collections and library in two buildings on the old Cuesta College Campus that was located on Camp San Luis Obispo property. Cuesta College extension classes, related to archaeology or museum practices, were often held at these facilities.

As part of our educational mission a publication series of Occasional Papers was started in 1970. That series continues today with an invigorated enthusiasm as our Occasional Paper #16 has recently been released. In addition we have committed to publish the archaeological papers resulting from the studies done during the construction of the California State Water Project through our area. To date four of the proposed twelve studies have been published. This program has proven to be self supporting in the past, but our more recent reports have required supplementing with moderate but welcomed grants.

During the time period from 1971 to 1995 the Society provided monthly lecture program meetings open to the public. The Society also helped define successful adult education programs at Cuesta College which attracted interested individuals to the benefits of the Society. In an attempt to reach a more diverse audience for our programs, our most recent approach changed to holding several programs per year, and because of the deteriorating and uncomfortable conditions, to hold them in a more publicly available space. Some of the more recent programs have attracted well over a hundred participants. In addition we have sponsored field trips to local archaeological sites providing a mix of professional archaeologists with the interested public with successful results.

In 1998 we received a Transportation Enhancement Act grant of $193,000 to renovate the facilities that we occupied. In order to receive this grant the Society was required to establish a direct lease from the State Real Estate Division. The renovation and new addition of an office space, ADA access, restroom and climate control Records Room has recently been completed resulting in bringing our Collections Archiving Facility into compliance with regulations and requirements. We can now offer the service of archiving important collections for the benefit of future study and educational purposes to our existing collection of over 250 local sites. No longer will archaeological collections from this county have to be archived out of county. A Learning Center and supporting Library are a significant portion of the renovation. The Learning Center has provided us with a space capable of handling groups of fifty or more individuals. Classes from both Cal Poly and Cuesta College have used this facility and its supporting Teaching Collection. The organization and cataloging of library holdings is an ongoing function.

It is our mission to accommodate educational and archival interest for the betterment of our long and diverse history upon which our current community is based.