In 1857, the San Francisco Board of Education established an evening school for teachers. The school became known as the Minns's Evening Normal School, after the principal, Washington Minns. In 1862, the California State Legislature formally established Minns's school as the first California State Normal School. …
The Historic Photograph Collection includes over 2,500 contact prints, negatives, transparencies, and 35mm slides that document California and the American West. The images come from two primary photograph collections within the California Room. One is a small collection which has been acquired …
The West Coast School of Nature Study at San Jose State College began in 1931 and was created by Dr. Karl S. Hazeltine, instructor of nature studies and Dr. Gayle B. Pickwell, instructor of natural science. The program focused on the study of geology, history, and the flora and fauna of the region. The first study site took …
The Historic Postcard Collection includes approximately 3500 pictorial and photographic postcards of California. Of these, 600 are of San Jose. The collection spans the years 1900 to the 1960s. Subjects include historic landmarks and attractions, schools, churches, businesses, parades, valley …
Student publications have been an essential part of campus life at San Jose State University since its founding. The first yearbooks, published between the years 1910-1915, were beautifully illustrated with woodcut designs, photographs, and line drawings created by the student body. The content of these early volumes …
The California Room has an extensive collection of over 1,000 maps from the 1870s to the 1980s. The collection includes historic maps of Santa Clara County and street maps of individual cities within the County. The collection also includes some old street and road maps for San Francisco and other …
John C. Gordon worked as a local commercial photographer in San Jose from 1910-1963. Gordon was born in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin on January 3, 1887. In 1916 Gordon opened a commercial photography studio located at 97 South First Street in downtown San Jose, just above what was then known as Lean's Jewelry Store. He …
Frontier Village was a western-themed amusement park which opened in 1961 and closed in 1980. It was located on approximately 30 acres of what had previously been part of the Hayes' estate on Monterey Highway in San Jose. After the park's closure, part of the land it occupied was …
John C. Gordon used the panoramic photograph to create a unique and enduring record of life in the Santa Clara Valley with a medium that is both expansive and immersive, giving viewers a rich visualization of regional geography and culture from a time long past. As a commerical photographer, he used the panorama to capture …
The term ephemera refers to anything short-lived or ephemeral, and is generally printed paper material that was meant to be thrown away. This includes printed matter such as brochures, handbills, memorabilia, pamphlets, tickets, timetables, etc. Printed ephemera often documents events that are …
Student publications have been an essential part of campus life at San Jose State University since its founding. The first student paper was The Acorn, which debuted in 1867. This publication was followed by The Class Paper in 1880, The Normal Index in 1885, and The Normal Pennant in 1898. Published between the years …
On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 providing broad powers for the War Department to create exclusion zones and to initiate an evacuation program for the Western Defense Command (WDC). Under the leadership of General John Dewitt of the WDC, the Civil Affairs Division (CAD) and the Wartime …
The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) originally formed in England in 1855. In the United States the YWCA combined evangelism and pragmatic activism to provide for the physical, social, mental, and spiritual needs of young women living on their own. The organization strove to provide "wholesome" activities for …
A City Directory lists the names of individuals living within a city along with their place of residence and occupation. Beginning with the 1911 edition, names of spouses and children over 18 were also included. In 1913, a street index was added to the City Directory. This is the feature which will …
Ted Sahl is an award winning photographer in San Jose, California who has spent the last 30 years as a photojournalist, documenting social and political events in the Bay Area. Although best known for his involvement with the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community , Sahl also covered anti-nuclear …
The California Room owns yearbooks from many Santa Clara County universities, colleges, and high schools. Visit our Yearbooks page to view a list of all of the school yearbooks that can be found in the California Room.
We have a growing collection, but we are missing many volumes. Help the …
The Richmond-Chase Company founded and incorporated by Edmond Nutting Richmond in 1919 became one of the primary fruit canning giants in Santa Clara County. The company maintained four major packing and canning plants in San Jose, and had other agricultural operations in central California, as well as owning several …
Charles B. Burdick (1927-1998) grew up in San Jose, California where he attended Lincoln High School before enlisting in the United States Army during World War II. After serving in the Army, Burdick enrolled at San Jose State College in 1946. He graduated with a B.A. in History in 1949, and obtained his Ph.D. from …
The Sarah Locke Family Papers is a small collection documenting the life of San Jose Normal School graduate (1879) Sarah Locke. The collection consists of books, journals, notes, a transcription of Sarah Locke's diary recording her trip to Yosemite in June of 1879, photographs of Sarah Locke's …
On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 providing broad powers for the War Department to create exclusion zones and to initiate an evacuation program for the Western Defense Command (WDC). Under the leadership of General John Dewitt of the WDC, the Civil Affairs Division (CAD) and the Wartime …
The Art of Protest Collection consists of twenty-six digitized silk screen posters documenting campus social protest movements in California during the 1960s and 1970s. Mostly the work of students at the University of California campuses in Berkeley and Santa Cruz, the posters depict a wide range of opposition …
The San Jose State University Special Collections & Archives is comprised of rich and unique holdings consisting of primary and secondary sources documenting local, regional, and California history with a focus on higher education, history, politics, literature, and art.
The Showcase Collection …
The King Library Digital Collections represent rare and unique materials held by San Jose State University Special Collections and the San Jose Public Library’s California Room. The collections document the history of the Santa Clara Valley from its agricultural beginnings to the high-tech boom and formation of the Silicon Valley. The range of subjects covered include local politics, social and cultural traditions, education, local business and industry, and historical events. This digital library will stimulate discovery of the rich and diverse resources of the library and will promote new scholarship from our community.
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