Additional Resources

California
Judicial Center Library

Serving the California Supreme Court
and the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District

California
Judicial Center Library

Serving the California Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District

Current Exhibition

Resolute and Resilient:
Celebrating 175 Years of California Women and the Law

The exhibition Resolute and Resilient: Celebrating 175 Years of California Women and the Law will be on display in the Archives Room on the first floor of the Ronald M. George State Office Complex in San Francisco’s Civic Center beginning in the summer of 2024. Organized by the California Judicial Center Library, the exhibition features illustrated panels and primary source materials celebrating California women’s contributions to the law and honoring the state’s pioneering women attorneys, judges, and justices.

Cabinet card portrait of María Amparo Ruiz de Burton in a fancy Victorian gown, holding a shawl. Her hair is elaborately coiled on top of her head and her expression is somber. She is posing in a studio, with a classical statute of a male figure on a pedestal in the background.

María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, circa 1874-1886, Thomas Houseworth & Co., photographers, California Judicial Center Library, Special Collections & Archive

Photograph of Chiyoko Sakamoto seated at a table, her head framed by an arch made up of piles of law books. Sakamoto is holding an open book in her hands and smiling happily. A card with Japanese characters stands on the table.

Chiyoko Sakamoto, October 25, 1938, Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library, Special Collections

Photograph of Vaino Spencer being sworn in by an unidentified judge. Both Spencer and the judge are holding up their right hands. Spencer is stylishly dressed, wearing a black suit and hat, white gloves, and a fur draped over her left arm.

Vaino Spencer being sworn in as an attorney, September 4, 1952, photograph by E. F. Joseph Studios, Southwestern Law School

Autographed group portrait of Chief Justice Rose Bird with Associate Justices Otto Kaus, Malcom Lucas, Cruz Reynoso, Allen Broussard, Joseph Grodin, and Stanley Mosk. Chief Justice Bird is seated in the center of the group. The photograph was taken in the chief justice’s chambers, which are lined with built-in bookcases.

Chief Justice Rose E. Bird Court, circa 1984–1985, California Judicial Center Library, Special Collections & Archives

Download the exhibition booklet