Hover the cursor over the info icon for a description of the web site. Several of these websites provide digitized primary sources.
Boom CaliforniaA free refereed online media publication dedicated to social and cultural issues in California. This website evolved from Boom: A Journal of California, a quarterly journal that was published by University of California Press for six volumes from 2011 through 2016. An archive of past issues can be found at boom.ucpress.edu.
California Digital ArchivesThis site, maintained by the CA Secretary of State, provides access to a variety of digitized original sources related to state history, including photographs, specimens, memoirs, advertising, government documents, and more. Resources are featured as part of collections and exhibits.
San Diego History Center.
California Light and SoundHistorical archival materials from California Revealed in partnership with over 200 libraries, archives and museums across the state.
California State Library: Additional Research ResourcesStaff of the Library have selected these particular sites as convenient sources of information to further its mission to serve the information needs of all California citizens.
California State Library: Online CollectionsIncludes exhibits you can visit through this website, and searchable catalogs of historic California art work, prints, documents, and photographs.
Library of Congress: Early California History: An OverviewCovers 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.
Online Archive of CaliforniaThe OAC provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California campuses.
San Diego History CenterLocated in San Diego's Balboa Park, it maintains 45 million documents: public and architectural records, books, maps, scrapbooks, manuscripts, newspapers, ephemera, diaries and the Oral History Collection. The extensive historic Photograph Collection has over 2 ½ million images. Some of these sources are available online. Their Research Archives are available to student researchers. For their walk-in hours or for an appointment, visit their website.
Two Years Before the Mast - ebookThis memoir, written by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., chronicles Dana's voyage up the West Coast between 1834 and 1836.
The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft - ebooksBancroft was a historian active in the late 19th century who published several works on California. Scroll down to volumes 18 through 22 on California.
Chronicling America [Library of Congress]Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Documents of the U.S.-Mexican WarThe following is a collection of selected speeches, legislation, and battle reports that were written during the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-1848.
Dupee Mexican History Collection BroadsidesThe Dupee Collection offers nearly 200 broadsides [posters, flyers, advertisements] published after the Mexican republic secured its independence in 1821. Chronicled within the broadsides are Mexican partisan politics, religious and anti-clerical debates, popular literature and drama, domestic revolutions and armed conflict with the United States. Most are Spanish-language sources written by Mexican citizens and published in Mexico.
The Pronunciamiento in Independent Mexico 1821 - 1876Free online database that includes full transcriptions of over 1500 Spanish pronumciamientos. Often defined as 'revolt', the pronunciamiento was a written protest/petition, generally drafted as a list of grievances or demands, signed by a group of individuals and/or corporate body (high-ranking officers, town council officials, villagers, members of a particular garrison, Indian pueblo, etc.) that could result in an armed rebellion if the government did not attend to them.
Huntington Library's California CollectionsEncompassing 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.
for a description of the web site. Several of these websites provide digitized primary sources.