One block from the California State Capitol, at 1020 O Street in Sacramento, the California Museum occupies the March Fong Eu Secretary of State Building complex. This is the state history museum of California, home to the California Hall of Fame and the Unity Center, and it operates as a private non-profit in partnership with the State of California. The idea for this place came from California Secretary of State March Fong Eu, who pushed for an improved facility to hold the state's public archives and dreamed of a museum to showcase California's heritage.
With passage of Senate Bill 638 a new Secretary of State/California State Archives complex was approved and completed in 1995, and three years later the museum opened in 1998 as the Golden State Museum, originally intended as a public showplace for the contents of the California State Archives. In 2004 former First Lady Maria Shriver began working with the museum to expand its vision, opening "California's Remarkable Women" as the first of her collaborations. Notice the Capitol just a block away, and the building that once housed California's public archives and Hall of Fame.