The California State Archives collection contains audiovisual material (moving images and audio), text material, and still images from the 1910s through the early 1990s. The majority of the collection consists of oral histories and government department videos, and include subjects and topics such as prisons, water resources, Jesse Unruh, the Senate Unamerican Activities Committee, and more.
California's first legislature, meeting in 1849–50, charged the Secretary of State to receive "…all public records, registered maps, books, papers, rolls, documents and other writings…which appertain to or are in any way connected with the political history and past administration of the government of California…" The California State Archives, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State, continues to serve in the spirit of those early instructions, providing a repository for the state's permanent governmental records as well as other materials documenting California history. The California State Archives serves a wide variety of researchers whose interests range from legislative intent and public policy to genealogy and railroad history in California.
1020 O Street, Sacramento, CA 95814