California Archives and Libraries

United States California  Archives and Libraries

The Online Archive of California
provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses. Many of the repositories listed below are included in the collections.

California State Archives
1020 "O" Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Telephone: 916-653-7715 Fax: 916-653-7363 E-Mail: [mailto:ArchivesWeb@ss.ca.gov ArchivesWeb@ss.ca.gov] Internet: http://www.ss.ca.gov/archives/archives_e.htm 

National Archives—Pacific Region (Riverside)
23123 Cojaico Road Perris, CA 92570 Telephone: 951-956-2000 Fax: 951-956-2029 Internet: http://www.archives.gov/pacific/riverside/

National Archives—Pacific Region (San Bruno)
1000 Commodore Drive San Bruno, CA 94066-2350 Telephone: 650-238-3501 Fax: 650-238-3510 E-Mail: [mailto:sanbruno.archives@nara.gov sanbruno.archives@nara.gov] Internet:http://www.archives.gov/pacific/san-francisco/index.html

California State Library
914 Capitol Mall Sacramento, CA 95814

Mailing address: P. O. Box 942837 Sacramento, CA 94237-0001 Telephone: 916-654-0261 Fax: 916-654-0241 E-Mail: [mailto:cslsirc@library.ca.gov cslsirc@library.ca.gov] Internet: http://www.library.ca.gov/

A helpful guide to the California State Library is Gary E. Strong and Gary F. Kurutz, Editors, Local History and Genealogical Resources of the California State Library and Its Sutro Branch. Sacramento, California: California State Library Foundation, 1983. (Family History Library book )

The Bancroft Library
University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

Telephone: (510) 642-3781 Administration office (510) 642-6481 Reference desk Fax: (510) 642-7589

Website: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/info/

''The Bancroft Library has an extensive collection of California materials. Nearby Doe Library has a large collection of newspapers on Microfilm.''

California Historical Society
North Baker Research LIbrary

The California Historical Society 678 Mission Street San Francisco, California 94105 Telephone: 415-357-1848 Fax: 415-357-1850

Website: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/

Society of California Pioneers
300 Fourth Street San Francisco, CA 94107-1272 Telephone: 415-957-1849 Fax: 415-957-9858 E-Mail: [mailto:info@californiapioneers.org info@californiapioneers.org] Internet: http://www.californiapioneers.org/ 

To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of California counties, use the 16 inventories of the county archives produced by the Historical Records Survey around 1940. The Family History Library has 13 of these inventories.

Regional Collections and General Genealogical Libraries
See each county for local collections

California Genealogical Society and Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2 Oakland, CA 94612-3031 Telephone: 510-663-1358 Fax: 510-663-1596 Website: http://californiaancestors.org/ Blog: http://blog.californiaancestors.org/

San Francisco and Northern California Manuscript Collections

Southern California Genealogical Society Library
417 Irving Drive Burbank, CA. 91504 Telephone: (818) 843-7247 or (818) THE-SCGS FAX: 818-843-7262 Website:[Http://www.scgsgenealogy.com http://www.scgsgenealogy.com] Blog: http://scgsgenealogy.blogspot.com/

Carlsbad City Library
1250 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008 Telephone: 760-434-2931 Internet: http://www.carlsbadlibrary.org

Two helpful guides to California archives and repositories are:

Coy, Owen C. ''Guide to the County Archives of California. Sacramento, California: California Printing Office, 1919.'' (.)

Directory of Archival and Manuscript Repositories in California. Redlands, California: Beacon Printery, 1975. (Family History Library .)

California Digital Collections
has statewide online database links which may include vital records, biographies, cemeteries, censuses, histories, immigration records, land records, maps, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, obituaries, or probate records.

Web Sites
You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from California in a variety of sources at local, state, national, and international levels. The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most of the information is available at no cost.

Addresses on the Internet change frequently. Currently the following sites are important gateways:

The USGenWeb Project

A cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet for each county, and state.

Cyndi's List - United States - California

www.cyndislist.com/us/ca/

Roots-L

http://www.rootsweb.com/roots-l/usa/

A useful list of sites and resources. Includes a large, regularly updated research coordination list.

FamilySearch™

http://www.familysearch.org

The Family History Library and some Family History Centers have computers with FamilySearch™. FamilySearch is a collection of computer files containing several million names. FamilySearch is a good place to begin your research. Some of the records come from compiled sources; some have been automated from original sources.