Handwritten and signed proclamation in the hand of Emperor Norton and bearing a red wax seal. Numerous illegible words make it difficult to determine what the proclamation is exactly about.

As cigar smoke hangs heavy in Mark Twains sitting room, the members of the Monday Evening Club eagerly await his presentation, which they think will be the reading of his paper The Decay of the Art of Lying. Instead, Twain changes his mind and enthralls his audience with the true tale of one mans unconventional and fascinating journey through life. It is 1849 when a thirty-one-year-old Jewish South African immigrant sails into San Francisco Bay with forty thousand dollars in his pocket, coming to join the Gold Rush but eventually finding his fortune in real estate and commerce. Just a few short years after Joshua Norton finally realizes success, however, he fails beyond his darkest nightmares. Now delusional and nearly penniless, he proclaims himself the Emperor of the United States as he aimlessly wanders the streets of San Francisco. As Emperor Norton unintentionally becomes a vital part of the young city, the people afford him the respect of a true monarch as he issues proclamations that, under his fictional rule, bring a much-needed renaissance of civility to society. An Emperor Among Us tells the intriguing tale of a remarkable eccentric who wove a unique, gentle, and civilized thread into the rough and tumble fabric of early San Francisco.

The California Gold Rush had a profound effect on the emerging city of San Francisco. Extreme highs and lows in the economic environment created an atmosphere in which the city's citizens were used to hardship and adversity. These conditions, combined with the importance of the newspaper industry explain the emergence of an eccentric individual such as Emperor Norton. Although he began his career in San Francisco as a prominent businessman, it is his later life as the self declared Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico which is most remembered today. Joshua Norton's career as Emperor mirrored that of San Francisco itself. His proclamations are remarkably insightful and forward thinking for his time and provide a picture of the city in the 1860s and 1870s. However, by the twentieth century, Norton came to be seen as a symbol of San Francisco and the tolerance the city was seen as expressing towards others. The enduring nature of Emperor Norton in San Francisco's memory is a testament to his popularity, both during his life and the subsequent creation of his symbolic persona.