The Argonaut has been published by the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society since 1990. Since 1995, it has been produced twice a year.

The publication has been enthusiastically praised by SFM&HS members for its design and for its well written, illustrated articles covering a wide diversity of topics dealing with San Francisco history. That feeling was echoed by the American Association of Museums, who awarded The Argonaut an honorable mention for design in 2009.

Articles for The Argonaut are written both by amateur historians with expertise on a subject and by professional historians writing on areas that they have extensively researched.