Stanford University Libraries assume stewardship of the California Historical Society Collection

PALO ALTO, Calif. and SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Stanford University Libraries (SUL) has assumed permanent stewardship of the California Historical Society Collection (CHS), a trove of over 600,000 items spanning the history of California and the West since the 18th century.

Photographer unknown, group of miners, ca. 1850s. Daguerreotype. California Historical Society

The collection, acquired in collaboration with the Bill Lane Center for the American West, will become known as the California Historical Society Collection at Stanford and will be made available to the public and academic community in the coming years.

The materials have all been moved to Stanford, following the signing of a transfer agreement last June. 

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."

Items from the CHS Collection date back to the early eighteenth century. Spanning roughly 16,000 linear feet, the CHS Collection is renowned for its rare and diverse range of materials, making it one of the most significant collections of California state and local history.

Some items of historic importance include original material from significant events such as the Gold Rush, statehood, and the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. It also features unique collections, including the records of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which date back to the early 1900s. 

Stanford historian Gordon H. Chang, the Olive H. Palmer Professor in Humanities, knows well the importance of having access to California's rich history. "The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford devoted considerable attention to mining the CHS archive and found material never used by previous railroad scholars," said Chang. His research shows the depth of the CHS Collection and its synergy to SUL's own holdings on the history of Asian Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans with the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Papers, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund records, and the Huey P. Newton/Black Panther Party Papers.

Another Stanford scholar that has turned to the CHS Collection for his own research is Richard White, the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus at Stanford and author of Railroaded and California Exposures.

"For me the CHS Collection is one of the most valuable, and underutilized collections in California," said White. "It will augment SUL's holdings in the American West, helping to fill in gaps from the nineteenth and early twentieth-century California. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to bring an archive of this significance to Stanford."

David M. Kennedy, the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus at Stanford and founding Faculty Director of the Lane Center, said that the acquisition of this collection "will make Stanford the premier place for historical research about California and the broader North American West."

The CHS Board considered several leading research and public institutions in California and ultimately decided that SUL was the best choice to manage and grow the CHS Collection. "SUL brings a strong infrastructure that spans a network of twenty libraries across Stanford's campus and an expansive team with knowledge and expertise in collections development, digitization and preservation, and technologies development," said CHS Interim CEO Jen Whitley. "Through SUL's partnership with the Bill Lane Center for the American West, the CHS Collection will continue to increase our understanding of California and the Western region.

Richard Saller, Stanford's twelfth President and the Kleinheinz Family Professor of European Studies, said the addition of the collection supports the university's core mission of research and education. "At a time when historical perspective is so critical, the California Historical Society Collection will provide a treasure trove of information about long-term trajectories over the past two centuries."

Read full Stanford University Libraries press release.

Contact: [email protected] 

California Flower Market annual stockholders meeting, 1933. Gelatin silver print. California Flower Market Records, California Historical Society