California NewsPapers, Genealogical Periodicals
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The first step in searching a newspaper is to identify those which served the area of interest and which have survived. The three most necessary tools are bibliographies (What was published?), inventories of library and depository holdings (Where is it?), and indexes (How do I find what I want in it?).

Among the older newspapers in the state are San Diego Union (1868); San Francisco Chronicle (1865); and Los Angeles Times (1881). The most extensive collection of California newspapers is in the California Room of the State Library in Sacramento. Some have been microfilmed and are available on interlibrary loan.

Besides the California Information File index in the California Room, which covers some newspaper items, there is also an index of about 922,000 cards with over 1,800,000 citations of San Francisco newspaper items from 1904 to the present. A published index to the San Francisco Call covers that newspaper back to 1894.

The Sutro Branch of the California State Library has California newspapers from 1846 on microfilm and available on interlibrary loan. Their newspaper index contains approximately three million entries from 1850 to the present. Many other California libraries have access to microfilm editions of newspapers on interlibrary loan.

California Historical Records - Databases include California Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records; California Birth, Marriage & Death Records; California Voter Lists & Census Records; California Immigration & Emigration Records; California Obituary Records; California Military Records; California Family Tree Records; California Pictures; California Stories, Memories & Histories; California Directories & Member Lists and much more....

Probably the largest manuscript collection in the state is at the Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley. The library’s collection on the West is strong and includes many diaries, collections of personal papers, and letters. A guide to the manuscript collection is available. Both the Bancroft Library and the California State Library have excellent websites that make accessing information in their collections easy.

Nearly every local genealogical society in the state has some form of publication, although no state-wide guide exists which includes them all. Many contain how-to articles (pertaining to California research), query columns, and book reviews. The Sutro Branch of the California State Library has a large collection of California periodicals.

California Historical Society's Index to California Historical Society Quarterly (1922–61; 1962–75), available from Channing Books in Marion, Massachusetts, cross-indexes fifty-four volumes of the periodical. The California Genealogical Society publishes a newsletter six times a year.

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