On 21 August 1854, Joshua Norton was inducted as a member of Occidental Lodge No. 22 of Free and Accepted Masons.
Sometime between May 1858 and May 1859, Joshua was "suspended for non-payment of dues" from Occidental 22.
Sometime in the early to mid twentieth century, Occidental 22 sought to merge with the San Francisco-based California Lodge No. 1 of F. & A.M. — the oldest Masonic lodge in California — after which Occidental 22 ceased to exist as a separate lodge.
In June 2024, The Emperor Norton Trust suggested to California 1 that it explore the possibility of posthumously reinstating Joshua Norton and forgiving his unpaid dues.
A year later, on 3 June 2025, California 1 did just that.
Of course, there were a few more twists and turns.
This is the story of a homecoming.
Read More
The digital collection that The Emperor Norton Trust launched in 2016 as the ARchive of Emperor Norton in Art, Music & Film has an updated name:
ARchive of Emperor Norton in the Arts (ARENA)
Read More
At the suggestion and request of The Emperor Norton Trust, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University has corrected its description of a carte de visite photograph by Jacob Shew that was misidentified as being possibly of Emperor Norton.
Read More
The annual holiday party of The Emperor Norton Trust celebrates the legend that it was Emperor Norton who originally called for the raising of a great tree in Union Square every Yuletide season. (Another apocryphal tale, alas!)
The celebration traditionally takes place on the second Sunday of December in the mezzanine of the historic House of Shields bar, in San Francisco.
This year, we gather via Zoom. The Tenth Annual Tannenbaum Toast takes place on Sunday 11 December at 4:45 p.m. Pacific — and at all related times around the world.
The traditional drink is the Boothby cocktail.
Zoom link on the flip!
Read More
At the end of May 2022, eight historians of San Francisco sent a letter to former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown urging the Mayor to publicly support The Emperor Norton Trust’s proposal that the California state legislature pass a joint resolution that simply would add “Emperor Norton Bridge” as an honorary name for the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge — leaving in place all existing names and signage for the bridge and its parts, including the “Willie L. Brown, Jr., Bridge” honorific for the West Crossing of the bridge.
The historians joined the Trust’s call that state lawmakers authorize the “Emperor Norton Bridge” naming in 2022 — the 150th anniversary of Emperor Norton’s three newspaper Proclamations setting out the vision for the Bay Bridge in 1872.
Read on for a link to the letter.
Read More
The annual holiday party of The Emperor Norton Trust celebrates the legend that it was Emperor Norton who originally called for the raising of a great tree in Union Square every Yuletide season. (Another apocryphal tale, alas!)
The celebration traditionally takes place on the second Sunday of December in the mezzanine of the historic House of Shields bar, in San Francisco.
This year, we gather via Zoom. The Ninth Annual Tannenbaum Toast takes place on Sunday 12 December at 3:45 p.m. Pacific — and at all related times around the world.
The traditional drink is the Boothby cocktail.
Zoom link on the flip!
Read More
In 1934, Emperor Norton was reburied at Woodlawn cemetery, in Colma, Calif., with a new rose granite headstone featuring an inscription whose deeply engraved letters and numbers were hand-gilded with real gold leaf.
It appears that the gilding lasted for several decades. But, eventually, the “illumination” wore off and the inscription mostly was bare, except for the faintest traces of gold and noticeable spots of mossy green film borne of the stone’s years-long exposure to sea air.
The stone still looked this way until very recently. But, in May 2021, Woodlawn quietly brought the inscription back to life.
Includes photo-documentation of the Emperor’s headstone in 1934, 1989/90, 2016, 2019 and today.
Read More
The annual holiday party of The Emperor Norton Trust celebrates the legend that it was Emperor Norton who originally called for the raising of a great tree in Union Square every Yuletide season. (Another apocryphal tale, alas!)
The celebration traditionally takes place on the second Sunday of December in the mezzanine of the historic House of Shields bar, in San Francisco.
This year, we gather via Zoom. The Eighth Annual Tannenbaum Toast takes place on Sunday 13 December at 2 p.m. Pacific — and at all related times around the world.
The drink is the Boothby cocktail.
Read More
An extremely rare signed c.1864 Emperor Norton carte de visite is being auctioned right now via Bonhams.
Read More
The Library of Congress, at the request of The Emperor Norton Trust, has updated its information for Emperor Norton, changing the Emperor’s birth year from 1819 to 1818 and adding 4 February 1818 as the birth date.
In its updated record, the Library has added a citation crediting the Trust as the source of the research that the Library used to make these changes.
The many research institutions and databases that use Library of Congress records as the basis for their listings now will be able to use the Library’s updated record for Joshua Abraham Norton to update their own subject headings for him.
As this happens, 1818 will become more and more widely accepted as the year when the Emperor was born.
Read More
On this 202nd birthday of Emperor Norton — who was born on this day in 1818 — The Emperor Norton Trust shares the news that it has relocated its base from San Francisco to Boston.
Click below for our press release.
Read More
The annual holiday party of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign celebrates the legend that it was Emperor Norton who originally called for the raising of a great tree in Union Square every Yuletide season. (Another apocryphal tale, alas!)
The celebration takes place on the second Sunday of December in the mezzanine of the historic House of Shields bar, in San Francisco. The drink is the Boothby cocktail.
We'll gather for the seventh time on Sunday 8 December from 4 to 6 p.m. The formal Toast is at 5 p.m.
Read More
On the eve of a crowdfunding campaign in support of its project to produce a compilation album of “Emperor songs” — songs about, or in some way inspired by, Emperor Norton — the Campaign has received a pledge of $3,000 for the project — which represents one-half of the projected $6,000 needed to pay for all costs associated with producing and distributing the album, including engineering, design, vinyl pressing, shipping materials and postage.
Read More
In February 2015, The Emperor’s Bridge Campaign inaugurated the modern tradition of celebrating Emperor Norton’s historical birth date with a 197th birthday party where we presented our research establishing 4 February 1818 as the Emperor’s date of birth.
We’ve been celebrating the Emperor’s birthday on February 4th ever since — including last year, when we led San Francisco in commemorating the Emperor’s 200th.
So, join the Campaign at the Comstock Saloon this coming February 4th to celebrate the Emperor’s 201st birthday…on his birthday!
Read More
The annual holiday party of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign celebrates the legend that it was Emperor Norton who originally called for the raising of a great tree in Union Square every Yuletide season. By tradition, the celebration takes place on the second Sunday of December in the mezzanine of the historic House of Shields bar in San Francisco, where we'll gather for the sixth time on Sunday 9 December from 4 to 6 p.m.
Read More
A well-known and fondly regarded Emperor Norton plaque created in 1939 most recently was installed at San Francisco’s old Transbay Terminal for 34 years — from November 1986 until the terminal was prepared for demolition in late 2010.
The weathered bronze plaque has been out of the public view for the last 8 years. But, recently, the plaque was lovingly restored — and plans are moving forward to reinstall the plaque at the new Transbay Transit Center.
Read on for a photograph of the plaque as most have never seen it — and for details on the location now being eyed for this rare and wonderful tribute to the Emperor.
Read More
The Emperor's Bridge Campaign seeks three new members — Treasurer; Secretary; and one At-Large Director — for its Board.
Read More
The bicentennial of Emperor Norton's birth is 4 February 2018.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, in partnership with Bay Area institutions, is producing Emperor Norton at 200 — a series of exhibits, talks, toasts and other special events in February 2018 and throughout the bicentennial year.
Read More
The annual holiday party of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign celebrates the legend that it was Emperor Norton who originally called for the raising of a great tree in Union Square every Yuletide season. By tradition, the celebration takes place on the second Sunday of December in the mezzanine of the historic House of Shields bar in San Francisco, where we'll gather for the fifth time on Sunday 10 December from 4 to 6 p.m.
To join us for a Procession to the Toast — led by Emperor Norton, as played by our friend, Joseph Amster — come to Union Square and gather at the foot of the tree at 3:30 p.m.
Read More
