California History: Research Guides
Are you stumped? We can help! Along with our how-to guides and our general guide to the collection, the California History Room librarians have spent hundreds of hours plumbing our collections to develop research guides for specific California topics. You can see our current guides below. If you cannot find a guide to the topic you are researching or if you still have questions, please consider using our library databases or contacting us.
General Topics
- African Americans in California (PDF)
- Art and Artists of California (PDF)
- Chinese Americans in California (PDF)
- Fiction in California (PDF)
- Fires and Firefighters in California (PDF)
- German Americans in California (PDF)
- Highways and Byways in California (PDF)
- Horses and Horse Racing in California (PDF)
- Images of California (PDF)
- Japanese Americans in California (PDF)
- Jewish Americans in California (PDF)
- Land grants in California (PDF)
- Latin Americans in California (PDF)
- Medicine in California (PDF)
- Mining in California (PDF)
- Native Americans in California (PDF)
- Oddities in California (PDF)
- Oil in California (PDF)
- Poetry in California (PDF)
- Portuguese Americans in California (PDF)
- Railroads in California (PDF)
- Remote Access: Vital Statistics and Indexes (PDF)
- Ships and Shipping in California (PDF)
- Sutter’s Fort Character Guide (PDF)
- Water in California (PDF)
- Wildflowers in California (PDF)
- Wine in California (PDF)
- Women in California (PDF)
- 1960’s in California (PDF)
How-To and Collection Guides
Local History
By County
- Alameda County (PDF)
- Alpine County (PDF)
- Amador County (PDF)
- Butte County (PDF)
- Calaveras County (PDF)
- Colusa County (PDF)
- Contra Costa County (PDF)
- Del Norte County (PDF)
- El Dorado County (PDF)
- Fresno County (PDF)
- Humboldt County (PDF)
- Imperial County (PDF)
- Inyo County (PDF)
- Kern County (PDF)
- Kings County (PDF)
- Lassen County (PDF)
- Madera County (PDF)
- Marin County (PDF)
- Mendocino County (PDF)
- Merced County (PDF)
- Modoc County (PDF)
- Monterey County (PDF)
- Orange County (PDF)
- Placer County (PDF)
- Sacramento County (PDF)
- San Francisco County (PDF)
- San Mateo County (PDF)
- Santa Barbara (PDF)
- Santa Cruz County (PDF)
- Shasta County (PDF)
- Sierra County (PDF)
- Siskiyou County (PDF)
- Stanislaus County (PDF)
- Trinity County (PDF)
- Tulare County (PDF)
- Tuolumne County (PDF)
- Ventura County (PDF)
- Yolo County (PDF)
- Yuba County (PDF)
By City
- Auburn (PDF)
- Bakersfield (PDF)
- Calexico (PDF)
- Carmel-by-the-Sea (PDF)
- Crescent City (PDF)
- Fair Oaks (PDF)
- Folsom (PDF)
- Fort Bragg (PDF)
- Modesto (PDF)
- Newport Beach (PDF)
- Placerville (PDF)
- Redwood City (PDF)
- Richmond (PDF)
- Sacramento building research (PDF)
- Sacramento City (PDF)
- San Francisco (PDF)
- San Francisco earthquake (1906) (PDF)
- Watsonville (PDF)
- Weaverville (PDF)
- Visalia (PDF)
Online Librarian
Many of our materials may not be online but our staff are. Reach out to us about arranging a 30-minute video research appointment with one of our librarians to:
- Look at undigitized primary sources
- Check in-house card files
- Discuss remote access options, such as low-resolution scanning
Sessions must be arranged in advance and are not meant to replace other access options such as visiting us or placing inter-library loans. Our video session limit is 30 minutes per patron per week. Up to 5 items may be requested per video call. The State Library reserves the right to refuse to show or scan materials that may be damaged by the process or are otherwise restricted.