San José Public Library, California Room

The Historic Photograph Collection includes over 2,500 contact prints, negatives, transparencies, and 35mm slides that document California and the American West. The images come from two primary photograph collections within the California Room. One is a small collection which has been acquired through donations to the California Room over the years. The second is photographs which were part of the Clyde Arbuckle Research Collection purchased several years ago. Clyde Arbuckle was the City of San José’s official Historian for over 50 years. His books, magazine articles, lectures and history classes have educated and inspired thousands over the years. The Clyde …

Institution: San José Public Library, California Room

The Historic Postcard Collection includes approximately 3500 pictorial and photographic postcards of California. Of these, 600 are of San Jose. The collection spans the years 1900 to the 1960s. Subjects include historic landmarks and attractions, schools, churches, businesses, parades, valley views, theatres, street scenes, hotels, events, and commerce and industry. The Historic Postcard Collection currently includes a representative selection of historic postcards from the California Room Collection. New images are added to the collection as they are digitized.

Institution: San José Public Library, California Room

This collection of documents represents the issues and events in and around the Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe and its adjacent mission, Santa Clara de Asis, 1841 - 1850. Many of the documents are business transactions such as bills of sale for goods and services, or contracts for the sale or lease of property. Also represented are proclamations by local authorities or petitions to local alcades or judges to resolve disputes. The documents in this collection are related to a larger collection found in the archival holdings at History San Jose. Also included are materials from the same time …

Institution: San José Public Library, California Room

A City Directory lists the names of individuals living within a city along with their place of residence and occupation. Beginning with the 1911 edition, names of spouses and children over 18 were also included. In 1913, a street index was added to the City Directory. This is the feature which will be most helpful to persons researching their house since it allows the searcher to look up a specific address and find who was living there. The San José Public Library holds all known published San José City directories from 1870-1970. These are available for research in the California …

Institution: San José Public Library, California Room

The San Jose Public Library California Room collection includes books, photographs, maps, periodicals, clippings and ephemera. The collection covers all of California with special emphasis on San Jose and Santa Clara County. The majority of images chosen for this project were photographs selected from the California Room Photograph collection and the Arbuckle Photograph collection. Also included are ephemera and postcards. The images document businesses, street scenes, agriculture, government, transportation, buildings and special events located in San Jose and Santa Clara County.

Institution: San José Public Library, California Room

The San Jose Public Library Collection chronicles more than a century of growth starting in 1880. The one-room “Free” San Jose Library opened in the Murphy building on what is now Post and Market Streets in 1880. Between 1882 and 1970, the library occupied five different locations until the construction of the Main Library. The branch system had its origins in the establishment of the Grant School Library in 1909, and quickly expanded in the post-World War II boom. By the time the San Jose Public Library moved into its new facility on West San Carlos Street in 1970, the …

Institution: San José Public Library, California Room

The California Room owns yearbooks from many Santa Clara County universities, colleges, and high schools. Visit our Yearbooks page to view a list of all of the school yearbooks that can be found in the California Room. We have a growing collection, but we are missing many volumes. Help the California Room fill in these gaps by donating copies of old and unwanted yearbooks from Santa Clara County. If you have a yearbook which is not in the California Room Yearbooks list and which you would like to donate, please contact the California Room. The Digital Collection This collection currently …

Institution: San José Public Library, California Room