Marin County Free Library

Images of San Francisco & Marin County damaged by the 1906 Earthquake along the San Andreas Fault. San Francisco photographs are principally by W. J. Street, a professional photographer. Tomales resident Ella Jorgensen took most of the Marin County photographs.

Institution: Marin County Free Library

The Country Club in Bear Valley was established in 1890 by members of the Pacific Union Club in San Francisco who were seeking a bucolic spot with plenty of fish and game for their sporting activities. These photographs are mostly from an album made for club members, circa 1895.

Institution: Marin County Free Library

From 1943 through 1949 the Bear Valley Ranch was operated by Eugene C. Compton, as a dairy ranch. Compton staged rodeos there in an arena he built for that purpose. The "W" or Bear Valley Ranch site later became the headquarters for the Point Reyes National Seashore which was established in 1963.

Institution: Marin County Free Library

These images are from a photograph album documenting visits to the Blithedale Hotel, circa 1888-1890. Blithedale was built by San Francisco homeopathic physician, John Jenckes Cushing, in 1873 and intended as a health retreat. The property, situated in today’s Mill Valley, totaled about 342 acres. When Dr. Cushing died in 1879, his widow Harriet and their son Sydney re-established Blithedale as a hotel, the first hotel in Mill Valley. Advertisements from this time announced “Furnished cottages, rooms single and en suite. Tents on raised platforms, furnished complete, electric lighted, with shower baths. Tennis, bowling, billiards, saddle horses. Convenient summer home …

Institution: Marin County Free Library

Billy Shannon's Villa, located on the west end of Fourth Street in San Rafael, was both a saloon and boxing training camp, owned by former amateur lightweight champion, Billy Shannon.

Institution: Marin County Free Library

The California Motion Picture Corporation (CMPC) was located in the Sun Valley neighborhood of San Rafael, Marin County, between 1914 and 1921. The studio produced 15 films, including Salomy Jane, which survives in its entirety in the Library of Congress. Principals in the company included director, George Middleton and his wife, Beatriz Michelena, the leading lady. The images in this collection are mostly stills from the CMPC’s archives, and were digitized from the original glass plate negatives.

Institution: Marin County Free Library

California Revealed is a State Library initiative to help California’s public libraries, in partnership with other local heritage groups, digitize, preserve, and provide online access to archival materials - books, newspapers, photographs, audiovisual recordings, and more - that tell the incredible stories of the Golden State. We also provide free access and preservation services for existing digital collections for partner organizations with in-house digitization programs. California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Institution: Marin County Free Library

Images from the Anne T. Kent California Room related to Fairfax.

Institution: Marin County Free Library

This collection of images documents the construction of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Civic Center, based on slide collections of Harold Stockstad and Davina Kosh. Stockstad was chairman of the Marin Council for Civic Affairs, who garnered support for Wright’s design for the Civic Center campus. Stockstad presented his slide show to citizens throughout Marin and was instrumental in ending the work-stoppage ordered by Supervisor Fusselman in January, 1961. Davina Kosh, a poet and long-time San Rafael resident, photographed the Hall of Justice under construction while working for the Marin County Veterans Service Office.

Institution: Marin County Free Library

Miscellaneous images from the Anne T. Kent California Room Collection.

Institution: Marin County Free Library