California History and Research Guides
Are you stumped? We can help! 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
- African Americans in 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)
- 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)
- Water in California (PDF)
- Wildflowers in California (PDF)
- Wine in California (PDF)
- Women in California (PDF)
- 1960's in California (PDF)
What's New
- Monterey County (PDF)
- Carmel-by-the-Sea (PDF)
Genealogy
General Genealogy 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)
- Kern County (PDF)
- Monterey County (PDF)
- Orange County (PDF)
- Placer County (PDF)
- Sacramento County (PDF)
- Santa Cruz 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)
- Carmel-by-the-Sea (PDF)
- Crescent City (PDF)
- Fair Oaks (PDF)
- Folsom (PDF)
- Newport Beach (PDF)
- Placerville (PDF)
- Richmond (PDF)
- Sacramento building research (PDF)
- Sacramento City (PDF)
- San Francisco earthquake (1906) (PDF)
- Sutter's Fort Character Guide (PDF)
- Watsonville (PDF)
- Weaverville (PDF)
- Visalia (PDF)