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Berkeley History
Visit the Berkeley History Room!
Open Hours: Wednesdays 10am-1pm
To visit outside of open hours, please make an appointment by calling 510-981-6100 (and asking to speak with someone from the History Room) or by email.
Located inside the Central Library in the Southeast Corner of the 2nd Floor Historic Reading Room, the Berkeley History Room contains a non-circulating collection covering all aspects and periods of Berkeley history, including geography, politics, arts and architecture, people, businesses, organizations, and social groups. The collection includes printed books and other media about Berkeley as well as institutions and organizations in and around Berkeley, a clipping collection from various publications (mainly from newspapers and mainly from the 1920s to circa 2000), local newspapers and newsletters, local governmental and quasi-governmental publications concerning the area and local issues, as well as selected photographs, flyers, recordings, posters, maps, and City documents. The Berkeley History Room collection also includes selected San Francisco Bay Area materials related to Berkeley history. In addition, the Berkeley History Room also maintains an archive of Berkeley Public Library history.
Common research topics and collection highlights:
- Ancestral and geneological research via Ancestry/census records
- Housing and/or architectural research via Sanborn Maps
- Berkeley social, political, economic, and cultural history
- Public transit history in Berkeley
- Obituary searches
- Historic map collection
- Historic poster collection
- Berkeley Daily Gazette microfilm (1894-1984)
- Berkeley Public Library history
- Berkeley High School yearbooks (1943-), select Berkeley Junior High and Elementary School yearbooks, UC Berkeley "The Blue and Gold" Yearbooks (1886-2006)
- Underground/alternative newspapers such as Berkeley Barb, Berkeley Tribe, Good Times, East Bay Express, Herstory, and more
Berkeley History Digital Links:
Clipping File Subject Headings
Digital Underground Press Collection
The Berkeley Revolution: Berkeley in the 1970s
Historic Berkeley Maps
Access maps from 1856 to the present, information about transportation, streets and neighborhoods.
How Old Is My House - Who Used to Live There?
How Do I Find Out About My House… When was it built? Who lived there? Who was the architect?
1. The very best local resource for property/architectural-related questions is BAHA…
Berkeley High School Yearbooks & News
Digital copies of the library's collection of yearbooks can be found here. The actual items are in the Berkeley History Room waiting for you.
Berkeley Jr. High Schools Yearbooks
Berkeley's Jr High Schools & Middle School Yearbooks can be found here.
Included: The Gleaner from Garfield & Martin Luther King, The Target from McKinley & Willard and the Burbank Wizard.
Berkeley Obituaries
The Berkeley Obituary Index is an index to death stories and obituaries of Berkeleyeans, both famous and not, contained in the Berkeley Daily Gazette. Currently available years:…
Berkeley History Photo Archive
Access annotated and digitized historical photos, images and maps from our Berkeley History Room.
Calisphere
Photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts — reveal the…
Special Collections
Berkeley's public schools were among the first in the nation to voluntarily desegregate. View some local desegregation stories here.
The Berkeley History Room has the Berkeley…