Collection Guide
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Finding Aid to the San Francisco Police Department Records
(1870-1983)
SFH 61
SFH 61
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Table of contents
Title: San Francisco Police Department Records
Date (bulk): 1888-1969
Date (inclusive): 1870-1983
Identifier/Call Number: SFH 61
Creator:
San Francisco (Calif.). Police Dept.
Physical Description:
(165 vols., 8 cartons, 18 manuscript boxes, 30 shoeboxes, 18 flat boxes, 5 flat files)
(88.7 linear feet)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: Records of the Board of Police Commissioners; the Office of the Chief of Police and subsidiary bureaus and units, including
the Bureau of Identification, the Bureau of Inspectors (aka Detective Bureau), Photographs Bureau, and Patrol Bureau; and
scrapbooks whose originating office or bureau is unknown. Many bureaus are not represented in the collection. Formats are
mostly oversized record books, scrapbooks, and photographic materials.
Physical Location: Series 1 through 5 and Series 7 through 9 are stored onsite. Series 6 is stored offsite and should be requested 48 hours in
advance.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English.
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk
hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance. Some items are on permanent display at
the San Francisco Police Department; some others are currently unavailable due to preservation issues. See notes under individual
subseries for details.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
[Identification of item], San Francisco Police Department Records (SFH 61), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public
Library.
The collection was received in several accessions. Fifty-nine volumes came to the San Francisco Public Library in 1972; these
included the Kytka scrapbooks, some of the mug books and wanted circulars, most of the Police Commissioners directives, one
of the Commissioners journals, a Commissioners letter book, one volume of Chief's directives, "foreign" and Oregon/Washington
criminal photographs, and San Quentin mug books and prisoner indexes. There was another accession in 1975 from Richmond Station
that included most of the license and permit ledgers. Additionally, in 1975, 250 glass plate negatives were aquired by the
library. One mugbook from the 1940s was donated by an individual in 2003. Another individual donated the HUAC scrapbook in
2003.
The most recent accession was received in September 2014 from the SFPD Legal Department and consisted of most of the Patrol
Bureau records in the collection, including district station logs, records of detail, and a signal box log; the General, Permanent,
and Personnel Orders of the Office of the Chief of Police; and the Narcotics Detail case books.
Related Materials at San Francisco Public Library
The San Francisco History Center has numerous topical files about the SFPD in its San Francisco Ephemera Collection. The San
Francisco History Center also has the Thomas J. Cahill Papers (SFH 15), the Kevin Mullen SFPD Collection (accession number
2010-58), the George M. Healy Papers (SFH 367), and the Alien Enemy Registration Affidavits, 1918 (SFH 48), which were administered
by the SFPD and filed at district stations. SFPD Annual Reports, additional Police Commission Minutes, and other SFPD publications
and reports are located in the Library's Government Information Center and/or the San Francisco History Center and are discoverable
via the online catalog, with links to electronic copies where digitized.
Related Archival Collections at Other Institutions
The Jesse Brown Cook Scrapbooks Documenting San Francisco History and Law Enforcement are held at the Bancroft Library.
The Beinecke Reading Room at Yale University holds
[Album of identification photographs of Chinese men], [circa 1874]
. The album (or Mug Book) corresponds to the San Francisco History Center holding of (Volume 6) Chinese San Francisco Key
No. 3.
The Center for Sacramento History has digitized
Sacramento Police Department copies of San Francisco Mug books, 1902-1939.
They are reproductions of San Francisco mug books copied by the Sacramento Police Department as a way to create a criminal
database. They include photographs and descriptions of arrestees from San Francisco. The Bancroft Library holds:
San Francisco Police mug shot albums, 1928-1931;
San Francisco Police mug shot albums, 1960- 1973;
and
San Francisco Police Dept. records of Folsom Prison convicts, 1924-1930.
Additional SFPD mug books and wanted circulars are held at the California State Library.
Mug book, 1901-02;
Mug book, 1922-28;
Criminal photographs: photograph album, 1875-1915;
and
Wanted persons: scrapbook, 1904-1918.
Photographs have been transferred to the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.
Existence and Location of Copies note
Selected Board of Police Commissioners minutes in Subseries 1.1 and Theodore Kytka scrapbooks in Subseries 3.3 are digitized;
and selected minutes and officers records are also available on microfilm. For details and links, please see notes under individual
subseries.
The history of the SFPD predates by decades the scope of the surviving archive. According to secondary sources, there was
a police force--of sorts--as early as 1849, coinciding with the population explosion from the Gold Rush. In 1856, the same
year as the Consolidation of the City and County of San Francisco, the office of City Marshall was replaced by that of Police
Chief. The 1850s also saw the introduction of military drill formation, uniforms, and the use of photography for criminal
identification.
By the late 1870s, the period when this collection begins, the police force numbered 400--the "largest single police force
in the West"--and in that year, the Chief became an appointed office rather than an elected one.
The 1880s and 1890s saw the introduction of the police patrol wagon and signal box system. In 1896, when James Phelan was
elected Mayor, a new City Charter was passed, which gave the mayor the power to appoint members of the Police Commission.
During the 1906 earthquake and fire, police records were salvaged and kept in Portsmouth Square; this accounts for the surviving
pre-1906 Board of Commissioners records, Bureau of Identification mug books, and miscellaneous other records.
Source:
History of the San Francisco Police Department
, [Prepared by the Planning and Research Bureau of the Department], 1972).
Records of the Board of Police Commissioners; the Office of the Chief of Police and subsidiary bureaus and units, including
the Bureau of Identification, the Bureau of Inspectors (aka Detective Bureau), Photographs Bureau, and Patrol Bureau; and
scrapbooks whose originating office or bureau is unknown. Many bureaus are not represented in the collection. Formats are
mostly oversized record books, scrapbooks, and photographic materials.
Strengths of the collection include: Board of Commissioners minutes and correspondence; Bureau of Identification mug books;
Bureau of Inspectors wanted circulars and crime clippings scrapbooks; and Photographs Bureau negatives of crime scenes and
traffic accidents. Also notable is a partial series of scrapbooks kept by forensics and handwriting expert, Theodore Kytka.
There are smaller amounts of correspondence of the Chief of Police, police officer records, and license and permit applications.
Significant events and topics include: the 1930s SFPD graft trials; vice; the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings
and demonstrations of May 1960; civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s; and the San Francisco State University Strike of
1968-1969.
The collection is arranged in nine series: Series 1: Board of Police Commissioners; Series 2: Office of the Chief of Police;
Series 3: Bureau of Inspectors; Series 4: Bureau of Identification; Series 5: Photographs Bureau; Series 6: Patrol Bureau
/ District Stations; Series 7: Bureau of Permits & Registration; Series 8: Clippings Scrapbooks of Unspecified Office or Bureau;
and Series 9: Narcotics Detail Case Books. Most series are further divided into subseries by type of material.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Francisco (Calif.). Police Dept.--Photographs.
San Francisco (Calif.). Police Dept.--Archives
Crime--California--San Francisco.
Police--California--San Francisco.
San Francisco (Calif.)--Social conditions.