Online Resources: California History Room
Looking for California history resources but can’t visit the library just yet? We have lots of items for online researchers! Check out our pages on California State symbols and capitals, the Gold Rush and more! If you wish to use our images or other items from our collection in your work, please visit our permission to use page for further instructions. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Broadside Card File Project
The History Room has a large poster collection that few people know about because the only records for it are in an old card-file. We began transcribing these cards during the height of the pandemic and made a much progress. While the link above takes you to all of the broadsides transcribed thus far, you can search for individual broadsides by topic using our California Information File II.
CAL@170
The California State Library is presenting Cal@170, a collection of 170 stories commemorating California’s 170 years of statehood. The aim is to offer examples of California’s unique character and that of its residents, past and present. That means among the good there will be some bad. For every success story, there’s a failure, a tragedy, an injustice. It’s from these mistakes that we learn and grow stronger together. For more information and to share a story, visit Cal@170.
California Capitols and Capitals
From San Jose in 1850 to its current location in Sacramento, California’s seat of government has moved several times, as have the locations of our state’s capitols. Learn more about our peripatetic government.
California COVID Diaries
The California State Library is working with local libraries to collect COVID-19 stories from across the state. We invite you to share your experience — so that we can preserve these memories for future Californians.
California Gold Rush
This overview of the California Gold Rush, discusses the complicated history of mining in and migration to California in the 1840’s and 1850’s using primary sources from the State Library’s collections.
California Symbols
Did you know that California has a State Fish? Learn about it and other official symbols representing California’s cultural heritage and natural treasures in this comprehensive guide.
Digitized Books and Magazines
Over the course of several years, we scanned tens of thousands of our rarest books and magazines. We placed them on Internet Archive.
Digitized Images
We have loaded close to 36,000 historic images from our collections onto Calisphere. Whether you are looking for images of parades or labor strikes, we have something for you.
Digitized Manuscript Collections
The State Library’s preservation department is actively scanning collections of personal papers kept by the history section and other State Library departments. See what’s been scanned and help us transcribe the documents.
Manuscript Finding Aid Project
During quarantine, we tackled the gargantuan task of transcribing all of our typewritten finding aids so that you can get a better sense of each collection and request materials from home. While they aren’t all available yet, you can see our progress in our catalog. If you want more information about the contents of a specific file in these collections, please contact us!
Online Exhibits
Haikus, daguerreotypes, and more, see the many exhibits put together by State Library Staff using materials from the collections, including the California History Section’s collections.
In addition to our fully online items, we have a number of resources that offer a mixture of items with full online access and records of items that have not been digitized. To help you access our un-digitized materials we offer variety of remote research options including copying services and inter-library loan services. If you have questions about any of these options please contact us.
Library Databases
Some of the resources listed in these databases are online and some are not. You can do preliminary searches here and potentially request copies from our staff.
Topical Research Guides
Need to research a topic in California History? These search aids will point you to online and in-person resources for specific topics.