Index
Libraries Bancroft Library California Genealogical Society California Historical Society California Military Museum California State Library - Sacramento California State Library - Sutro   MELVYL library catalog NUCMC library catalog WorldCat library catalog	Government California Department of Health Services California State Archives-Sacramento U.S. National Archives-Pacific Region
Societies California Genealogical Society California Historical Society Native Daughters of the Golden West Society of California Pioneers	Religious Groups Family History Library (LDS) Episcopal Archives Presbyterian Archives Roman Catholic Archives Western Jewish History Center

• What do they have?
• "The manuscripts of The Bancroft Library number over 44,000,000 and range from 4,000-year-old papyri to current papers. Centering on diverse aspects of California and Mexico, they also include writings of persons prominent in literature, politics, journalism, law, science, business, and other activities of many regions. Original manuscripts are supplemented by many microfilms." A small part of this collection includes:
• "Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and other papers in which individuals describe events in which they were participants or observers."
• "The Pictorial Collection of paintings, drawings, photographs, and other documentary depictions from the earliest recorded images to the present day complement the Library's printed and manuscript collections on California, the far western United States, Mexico, and Central America."
• San Francisco Examiner newspaper collection (news of donation, April 2006)
• "The archives include [photograph] prints and negatives dating from 1919 to the late 1990s, the newsroom's clipping file and 850 leather-bound volumes of Examiner editions from 1888 to 1956."
• Some of their holdings can be searched on MELVYL, NUCMC, WorldCat, and UC Berkeley's library catalog: OskiCat.

library catalog

Some of their California library holdings

• All California U.S. Censuses 1850-1930
• California - State Library Information File
• California Surname Index: Biographies from Selected Histories
• "This book provides an integrated index to more than 18,000 biographical sketches of early Californians named in 42 historical works on the shelves of the California Genealogical Society's George R. Dorman Collection."

• "Raking the Ashes - Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research" by Nancy S. Peterson
• "A Most Dreadful Earthquake - A First-Hand Account of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire" by Dorothy Fowler

They have rotating exhibits, a nice little store, and a research library. Some of the library holdings include:

• Manuscripts, including diaries and letters of gold rush miners and early settlers, nineteenth century businesses and political organizations.
• Over 35,000 books and pamphlets
• Extensive ephemera collection
• Maps
• Posters and broadsides
• Periodicals, newspapers, and microfilm
• California History, the quarterly publication of the California Historical Society
• This publication can be found in many California libraries.  However, you may request photocopies of specific articles from CHS for a fee, payable in advance, and subject to the discretion of the Director of the Library.
• Some of their holdings can be searched on MELVYL, NUCMC, and WorldCat

• The Seymour Pioneer Museum has rotating exhibits on the first floor,
• The Alice Phelan Sullivan Library "is a 10,000 volume research center for the study of California history."
• Laurel Hill Cemetery (San Francisco) Registers
• Sample pages (85 to 95) from Bancroft Library
• The Lawrence & Houseworth Photograph Database

• California military history, educational programs, exhibits, research programs, etc.
• Various online databases related to California military history

California Department of Public Health
Office of Vital Records – MS 5103
P.O. Box 997410
Sacramento, CA 95899-7410

Customer Service Unit at (916) 445-2684 (Monday through Friday, 8 to noon PST)

• Birth Certificates  (1905 to present)
• Instructions for ordering a birth certificate.
• Death Certificates (1905 to present)
• Instructions for ordering a death certificate.
• Marriage Certificates (1905-2000,2000-present)
• Instructions for ordering a marriage certificate.
• Divorce Records (1962 to June 1984)
• Instructions for ordering a certificate of record for divorces.

searchable catalog
Online Archive of California (California State Archives: 201 finding aids)

COLLECTIONS

• Vital Records; Naturalization Records. (see list)
• Legislative Records; California Governors; Supreme and Appellate Courts; Elections and Political Campaigns; State Agencies and Constitutional Officers; Oral Histories; Photographs;
• Spanish and Mexican Land Grants;
• Family History Resources
• CENSUS SCHEDULES: 1852 State, 1860 and 1880 Federal.
• COUNTY RECORDS: 1850-1987. Includes probate court case files, wills, naturalizations, deeds, homesteads, and vital records for 28 counties. Not all records are available for all counties.
• MENTAL HEALTH RECORDS*: 1856-1972. Records may include registers and case files for Stockton, DeWitt, Modesto, Mendocino, and Sonoma State Hospitals. Some indexes available.
• MILITARY RECORDS: 1850-1942. Includes organization papers, muster rolls, and other records relating to Independent Militia Units, Indian Wars, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I and II. Name indexes available for Independent Militia Units, 1851-1866 and Civil War Volunteers, 1861-1867.
• PRISON RECORDS*: 1850-1972. Includes San Quentin and Folsom prison registers, inmate photographs, inmate case files (samples only) and pardon files. Name indexes, 1850-1972. Also available are Youth Authority registers and some case files for Whittier (1891-1948), Ventura (1909-1963-girls), and Preston (1894-1914); names indexes available for records dated through 1930.
• SUPREME AND APPELLATE COURT CASES: 1850-1970. Filed numerically by case number. Includes briefs, transcripts and opinions. Plaintiff and defendant name indexes, 1850-1930, are available.
• COMMON SCHOOL REPORTS: 1862-1960. Filed chronologically by school year and then alphabetically by county name. Includes school districts, student attendance figures, grade taught, length of school year, school finances, names of teachers and condition of schools.
• ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION: 1850-1959. Filed alphabetically by company name. Includes company name, purpose, place of business, names of officers and amount of capital invested.
• TRADEMARKS: 1861-date. Filed numerically by trademark number and chronologically by date of filing. Includes name of claimant, type of product, label specimen or written description and occasionally business address. Claimant and trademark name idexes available.
• DEPARTMENTS PROFESSIONAL AND VOCATIONAL STANDARDS/CONSUMER AFFAIRS - LICENSING FILES: 1885-1968. Filed by type of profession and then alphabetically by name. Includes biographical data, letters, photographs, newspaper clippings relating to: Architectural Examiners, 1901-1947; Civil and Professional Engineers, 1930-1966; Cosmetologists, 1928-1960; Dental Examiners, 1885-1959; Medical Examiners, 1902-1981; Pharmacy Board, 1894-1938; and Social Work Examiners, 1940-1967.



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* Records less than 75 years old are restricted.

• California Newspapers
• County and local histories
• City and county directories
• Telephone directories
• Biographical dictionaries
• Great Registers of voters
• San Francisco, 1866, 1888-1904 (circulating microfilm via interlibrary loan)
• Genealogical society publications
• Historical photograph collection
• Manuscript collections

 
• California Information File (original)
• San Francisco newspapers indexes
• Pioneer Card File
• California Death Index (1905-1995)
• California Marriage Index (1949-1986)
• California Divorce Index (1964-1984)
• Census records and indexes (circulating microfilm via interlibrary loan)
• DAR collections

For a more detailed listing:  http://www.library.ca.gov/calhist/genealogy.html

California State Library—Sutro

Sutro is the largest genealogical library west of Salt Lake City. Their holdings contain materials from all over the United States.  The total book count is over 150,000 and there are more than 65,000 microforms.  This includes more than 10,000 family histories, 40,000 state, regional, county, and town histories, including vital records, 20,000 city directories, and 10,000 telephone books. Some of Sutro Library's holdings that are particularly helpful for San Francisco Bay research include:

• California Information File (see Norcal Genealogy Resource Center for description of this file)
• California Death Index 1940-1995  (see Norcal Genealogy Resource Center for description)
• California Marriage Index (Groom's index only) 1960-1985
• Social Security Death Index
• 1852 printed and microfilmed California State Census
• Federal Census and Soundex records 1790-1920 Research Tips
• 1850 printed Federal Census and census microfilm (does not include SF)
• 1860 printed Federal Census Index (see Norcal Genealogy Resource Center for description)
• 1870 printed Federal Census Index (separate volume for SF) and census microfilm
• 1880 Federal Census CD, soundex and census microfilms
• 1900 Federal Census soundex and census microfilms
• 1910 Federal Census soundex and census microfilms
• 1920 Federal Census soundex and census microfilms
• San Francisco City Directories from 1854 forward.  A few years missing, but an excellent collection. Research Tips
• City Directories and Telephone Books
• Microfilm copies of old city directories and telephone books from all over the US (a huge and growing collection!)
• "California Wagon Train Lists, Apr 1849 to Oct 1852" by Louis J. Rasmussen (see Norcal Genealogy Resource Center for description)

• "Book of the Dead"  This is a collection of catalog cards, which contain abstracts of some records from:
• Records of H. Gray & Co. Undertakers, 1848-1863
• Lone Mountain cemetery
• Laurel Hill Cemetery
• Masonic cemetery
• Yerba Buena Cemetery
• Excellent collection of county and state histories from all over the United States
• Over 10,000 compiled family genealogies (including the entire collection that was formerly at the San Francisco Public Library)
• "Roster of Pioneers-Native Daughters of the Golden West" contains names and records of over 32,000 early pioneers (see Norcal Genealogy Resource Center for description)
• "Records of the Families of California Pioneers" included in 17+ volumes by the D.A.R. California.
• San Francisco Newspapers
• Alta California, 1863-1891 (on microfilm)
• San Francisco Bulletin, 1855-1899 (on microfilm)
• San Francisco Morning Call, 1863-1877 (on microfilm) (note: some of the birth, marriage and death notices from this paper are indexed)
• San Francisco Examiner, 1865-1899 (on microfilm)
• San Francisco Chronicle, 1895-1899 (on microfilm)
• San Francisco Newsletter, 1865-1889 (book bound)
• San Francisco Newsletter, 1865-1889 (on microfilm, incomplete)
• The Richmond Banner, 1894-1984 (on microfilm, incomplete)
• Indexes
• San Francisco Newspaper Index, 1904-1949 (see Norcal Genealogy Resource Center for description)
• San Francisco Chronicle Index, 1950-1980 (see Norcal Genealogy Resource Center for description)
• Extractions
• "Vital Records from the San Francisco Evening Bulletin" (1856-59, 61-62, 64-66, 68, 73-74) by the D.A.R. California.
• "Who Perished--A list of persons who died as a result of the great earthquake and fire in San Francisco on April 18, 1906" compiled by Gladys Hansen Research Tips
• "The foreign-born voters of California in 1872 including naturalization dates, places, and courts of record" compiled by Jim W. Faulkinbury.
• "Gleanings from the 'Alta California', Marriages & Deaths, 1846-1850" by Mary Dean Alsworth.
• "More Gleanings from the 'Alta California', Vital Records 1851" by Mary Dean Alsworth.
• "San Francisco Deaths 1902-1904" by  Barbara Ross Close.
• "Index to San Francisco Marriage Returns 1850-1858" by Kathleen C. Beals.
• "San Francisco Probate Index, 1880-1906: A Partial Reconstruction" by Kathleen C. Beals.
• "California Surname Index: Biographies from Selected Histories"byBarbara Ross Close.
• "California Cemetery Inscription Sources" by/ Elizabeth Kot and Shirley Thomson.
• "Cemetery Records from California" by  D.A.R. California.
• "A personal name index to Orton's Records of California men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1867 : index" compiled by J. Carlyle Parker.
• "Sources of Californiana : from padron to voter registration" by J. Carlyle Parker.
• "Index to Mexican War pension applications" transcribed by Barbara Schull Wolfe.
• "California Wagon Train Lists, Volume 1: 5 April 1849 To 20 October 1852" by Louis J. Rasmussen
• "Railway Passenger Lists of Overland trains to San Francisco and the West" by Louis J. Rasmussen
• "Railway Passenger Lists of Overland Trains to San Francisco and the West, Vol II. November 14, 1871 To April 23, 1873"  by Louis J. Rasmussen
• "San Francisco Ship Passenger Lists : Volumes I, II, III, IV; 1850-1875" by Louis J. Rasmussen
• "San Francisco Passenger Departure Lists; 6 volumes; 30 September 1850 to 30 June 1853" by Peter E. Carr (Volumes 1-5)
• "Lone mountain, the most revered of San Francisco's hills; annals of the pioneers copied from headstones and other old records" by Ann Clark Hart.
• "Index to the Argonauts of California [by] Charles Warren Haskins." by  Libera Martina Spinazze

Some of their holdings include:

• Records for defunct congregations, including St. Paul's and St. Stephen's of San Francisco.
• Records of the Diocesan Office and the committees and commissions of the Diocese.
• Records of the Bishop Armitage Orphanage and Maria Kip Orphanage.

• "...collection of original letters, diaries, oral histories, rare and historic photographs, newspapers, books, and institutional records."
• "...the WJHC archive holds the records of important Bay Area congregations like San Francisco’s Emanu-El, Beth Israel, Sherith Israel, Ohabai Shalome, Temple Isaiah in Lafayette and Temple Sinai in Oakland. Besides documenting the religious life and activities of the congregations, these collections contain a wealth of genealogical information in the form of marriage certificates and burial registers."

"...has a large collection of newspaper clippings and hundreds of microfilm rolls, many of which contain 19th and 20th Century Jewish newspapers and periodicals."

While this is not a library or archive in the physical sense, it's value cannot be underestimated. MELVYL is a searchable ONLINE  library catalog which lists the holdings of the following facilities (and some others as well)

• every University of California campus library
• California State Library in Sacramento
• Sutro Library

• California Pioneer Roster Index
• contains over 35,000 biographical entries about people who entered the State or were born in the State prior to 1870,
• Papers, records, publications since the founding of the Order in 1886
• A limited collection of census, microfiche, state and local histories.

While this is not a library or archive in the physical sense, it's value cannot be underestimated. NUCMC is a Library of Congress gateway for searchable ONLINE  library catalogs which lists the holdings of the various facilities around the United States.

NUCMC consists of TWO separate catalogs:

• RLG Union Catalog
• OCLC Catalog

The Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) maintains a Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah. It contains an extensive amount of genealogical and historical resources for the entire world, some of which are on microfilm. Many of these resources can be requested from the main library and viewed at local Family History Centers (FHC) around the world. Some of the local centers maintain a permanent copies.

What IS a Family History Center ???
Family History Center Locator

• Over 100,000 volumes, including some San Francisco Prebyterian Church records,

Howard Presbyterian Church - all the records from this defunct San Francisco church.

Roman Catholic Archives Research Tips

The Archdiocese of San Francisco includes Dioceses of Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Stockton, in California. Parish listings: San Francisco; San Mateo County; Santa Clara County; Marin County. 

U.S. National Archives-Pacific RegionResearch Tips

• 1852 CA State Census
• U.S. Census
• NOTE: a researcher has notified us that the "Federal Census microfilms, the soundex indices, and the T1210 series tapes that describe enumeration districts" have been removed. (July 2016)
• U.S. Census and Soundex microfilms 1790 to 1920
• U.S. Census Index Books (printed) (see Norcal Genealogy Resource Center for complete list online)
• Naturalization Records and Indexes for federal courts. Does NOT include that were done at the local County courts.
• CD-ROM Computer
• Census and Tax List Indexes
• Social Security Death Benefits Records Index (Spring, 1994 version)
• Marriage Record Indexes
• Seamen
• Civil Case Files - Estates of Deceased and Deserting Seamen, 1872-1970, U.S. District Court (not indexed)
• Record of Deceased and Deserting Seamen, 1872-1942, U.S. Shipping Commissioner (indexed)
• Civil War index of compiled service records of volunteer Union soldiers who served in organizations from the State of California
• Indexes and Passenger Arrival Records for SF
• Indexes to non-Chinese passenger lists of vessels arriving in SF 1893-1934
• Passenger lists of vessels arriving in SF 1893-1953
• Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving in SF 1954-1957
• Customs Passenger lists of vessels arriving in SF 1903-1918
• Crew lists of vessels arriving in SF 1904-1954
• Admitted alien crew lists of vessels arriving at SF 1896-1921
• Passenger list of vessels arriving at SF from insular possessions 1907-1911
• Lists of US citizens arriving in SF 1930-1949
• Land Records
• CA Private land claim dockets 1852-1910
• Private land grant cases in the Circuit Court of the Northern District of CA 1852-1910
• Index to private land grant cases, US District Court, Northern District of CA, 1853-1903
• Index by County to private land grant cases, US District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of CA, 1852-1910
• Records of arrivals and disposition of Japanese-Americans in SF 1928-1942
• Records of Arrivals of Chinese-Americans
• San Francisco Chinese Mortuary records 1870-1933
• Registers of Chinese Laborers returning to the US through port of SF 1882-1888
• Lists of Chinese Passengers arriving in SF 1881-1914
• Lists of Chinese applying for admission to the US through port of SF 1902-1947
• Passenger lists of vessels arriving at SF from Honolulu 1902-1907
• Registers of Chinese departing from and returning to the US 1882-1908
• Chinese passenger lists 1897-1905
• Index to Mexican War pension files, 1887-1927
• Native American Records for Northern California
• Indian Census rolls 1884-1940
• Reports of Inspections of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 (rolls 3, 19, 43, 44, and 53)
• Census Rolls of the Indians of California Authorized under the Act of May 18, 1928 (includes only those Native Americans who could trace their ancestry to Native Americans living in California in 1852)
• California Indian Enrollment Applications, 1928-1933
• World War I Draft Registration cards for California (also for NV and HI, on microfilm)
• Original World War II registration cards—from the Fourth Registration only
• The Fourth  Registration was held in April 1942 and included all men (native born citizens,  naturalized citizens and aliens) born on or after April 28,  1877 and on or before February 16, 1897 (inclusive). The Fourth  Registration cards for California are arranged primarily by Selective Service Board number,  and thereunder alphabetically by name of applicant.
• San Francisco Chinese Mortuary records, 1870-1933
• California Pioneer Register and Index, 1542 to 1848 / Hubert Howe Bancroft
• Old War Pension Index, filed 1815-1926

While this is not a library or archive in the physical sense, it's value cannot be underestimated. WorldCat is a gateway for searching ONLINE  library catalogs which lists the holdings of the various facilities around the United States.