Trove of California History to be Housed at Stanford University Libraries, Collection Contains Over 600,000 Items Dating Back to the 18th Century
From Stanford University Libraries:
Stanford University Libraries (SUL) have assumed permanent stewardship of the California Historical Society Collection, a trove of over 600,000 items spanning the history of California and the West since the 18th century.
The collection, acquired in collaboration with the Bill Lane Center for the American West, will become known as the California Historical Society (CHS) Collection at Stanford and will be made available to the public and academic community in the coming years.
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The collection will complement Stanford’s existing archival materials on California and the American West and will be a valuable resource for scholars, students, and the general public studying the region’s past, said Michael A. Keller, the Ida M. Green University Librarian at SUL.
“From its origins, the California Historical Society has focused on collecting and preserving the history of the West and has amassed a remarkably rich and diverse archive over the years,” Keller said. “Its collections of books, journals, letters and postcards, maps, photographs, newspapers, and more form an enormous, relatively untapped resource for historical research, for teaching, and for understanding the history of California and the Western region.”
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Items from the CHS Collection date back to the early eighteenth century and span approximately 16,000 linear feet. It is estimated to contain more than 600,000 items and is renowned for its rare and diverse range of materials, making it one of the most significant collections of California state and local history. The CHS Collection is held in high regard alongside those of other esteemed institutions such as the Bancroft Library, the California State Library, and the Huntington Library.
The CHS Collection includes original material from significant events such as the Gold Rush, statehood, and the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. It also features unique collections, such as the Peoples Temple Collection, which houses organizational records, government documents, official and personal correspondence, newspapers, publications, photographs, film and video tapes, audio recordings, and three-dimensional artifacts. The collection has grown considerably since its establishment in 1983, thanks to the generous donations from former Peoples Temple members, family, and friends, as well as journalists and scholars. It now stands as the most comprehensive archival record of the organization, spanning from Peoples Temple’s beginnings in Indiana in 1955 to the aftermath of the tragedy in Jonestown on November 18, 1978.
Learn More, Read the Complete Announcement (about 1800 words + images)
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About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.