Primary Sources: The American West: California

"Encompassing more than 300 archival collections, the Huntington's California holdings are of the first rank for the study of the state's history. Materials range chronologically from the late 18th century to the present and consist of all manner of media, including manuscripts, books, broadsides, photographs, maps, audiovisual materials, and realia. English and Spanish are the two principal languages."

"A Freely Accessible Repository of Digitized California Newspapers from 1846 to the Present"

"The UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History's collection includes baskets made by California American Indians in the 19th and early 20th century." A selection of images from the collection is available online (click the Online items available)

Digital Collections of the California State Library available via the Internet Archive.

Calisphere is a service of the UC Libraries. It is designed to help educators find primary source materials. It can be browsed through an A-Z list and "themed collections" are also provided.

"The diaries provide a remarkable documentation of life in rural northern California in the 19th century. The daily happenings of Delia's life and the Lockeford community are recorded, including the activities of church and temperance organizations as well as the Mokelumne River Ladies' Sewing Circle. Nearly every entry begins with temperature recordings taken at sunrise (written as "T.S.R"), 2 PM, and Sunset (written as "S.S."). "

The sources in this set document the broad “forty-niner” experience.

An online exhibit from the California State Library exploring the gold rush era. It includes selections of primary source materials.

"The collection covers the dramatic decades between the Gold Rush and the turn of the twentieth century. It captures the pioneer experience; encounters between Anglo-Americans and the diverse peoples who had preceded them; the transformation of the land by mining, ranching, agriculture, and urban development; the often-turbulent growth of communities and cities; and California's emergence as both a state and a place of uniquely American dreams. The production of this collection was supported by a generous grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation."

"The extensive collections at the Library of Congress contain historic artifacts and cultural materials from across the U.S. "

"the N. A. Chandler Gold Rush Era Letters collection consists of fifty-six handwritten letters from 1855 to 1872. Fifty-five of these letters are from N. A. Chandler to Jane M. Chandler and one letter is from Jane M. Chandler to N. A. Chandler. Four letters were written on picture sheets, two from California display Gold Rush motifs and one from Lowell, Massachusetts displays statistics of Lowell Manufactures for 1859. " Claremont Colleges Digital Library

"...provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 150 contributing institutions ..." If a collection has online items available it will be noted by an icon of an eye.

Access Digital Collections from the UC Berkeley Library. Collections cover a variety of topics.

Online access to digitized collections from the UCLA library.

Digital collections covering a variety of topics such as: Latin American Political Campaign Ephemera Collection; Dr. Seuss Collection and the Spanish Civil War Collection

"Spanning a wide range of visual media, the USC Digital Library offers digital images of drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, rare illustrated books, as well as audio and video recordings. Encompassing the subject strengths of the vast collections of the libraries at the University of Southern California, these materials represent the applied sciences, fine and decorative arts, history, performing arts, and social sciences."

"The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco, sfmuseum.org, functions as a general multi-media website utilizing text, graphics, and sounds. We are primarily a research and educational site for scholars, young and old. Our site features the interesting, the amusing, and the unusual in San Francisco's history." The Museum of the City of San Francisco