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Finding Aid to the Fang family San Francisco examiner photograph archive negative files, circa 1930-2000
BANC PIC 2006.029--NEG
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Collection Title: Fang family San Francisco examiner photograph archive negative files
Date (inclusive): circa 1930-2000
Collection Number: BANC PIC 2006.029--NEG
Creator:
San Francisco Examiner (Firm)
Extent:
3,212 boxes (ca. 3,600,000 photographic negatives); safety film, nitrate film, and glass : various film sizes, chiefly 4 x
5 in. and 35mm.
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: Local news photographs taken by staff of the Examiner, a major San Francisco daily newspaper. The vast majority of the negative
files record local persons and events in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and Northern California. Included are all the topics
typically found in local news coverage, including politics, state and local government, society, sports, visiting dignitaries
and celebrities, fashion, the arts, crime, accidents, transportation, urban and suburban development, and human interest stories.
The negative files are not limited to images that were published in the newspaper; the majority was never printed.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
AVAILABLE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. SOME PORTIONS RESTRICTED.
Boxes 1-218: Restricted due to handling and transportation hazards. UNAVAILABLE FOR USE. For Boxes 1-30 and Boxes 70-96 a
sleeve-level listing is available in the library.
Boxes 219-3182: Available by appointment only. Advance notice required for use. Direct inquiries in writing, to the Head of
Public Services, The Bancroft Library.
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
[Identification of item], Fang family San Francisco examiner photograph archive negative files, BANC PIC 2006.029--NEG, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Fang family San Francisco examiner archive (BANC MSS 2006/160).
Received with approximately 1,200 linear feet of photographic print files, approximately 100 linear feet of publisher's correspondence,
microfilmed clippings files, and over 900 volumes of bound copies of the newspaper. The photographic print files are accessed
through a separate finding aid.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)--Pictorial works
California--Politics and government--20th century--Pictorial works
California--Social life and customs--20th century--Pictorial works
San Francisco (Calif.)--Pictorial works
Photographs
Gift of the SF Newspaper Company, LLC, in consultation with the Fang family of San Francisco, former owners of the San Francisco
Examiner.
Initial arrangement and housing were undertaken by Bancroft Library staff from 2007 to 2009, supported by grant funding from
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Preservation efforts continued from 2009 through 2010 with the support of
a Save America's Treasures grant. Additional description (now part of this finding aid) was supported by a Hidden Collections
Grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), from 2009 through 2012.
Scope and Content of Collection
Local news photographs taken by staff of the Examiner, a major San Francisco daily newspaper. The vast majority of the negative
files record local persons and events in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and Northern California. Included are all the topics
typically found in local news coverage, including politics, state and local government, society, sports, visiting dignitaries
and celebrities, fashion, the arts, crime, accidents, transportation, urban and suburban development, and human interest stories.
The negative files are not limited to images that were published in the newspaper; the majority was never printed.
Original filing order has been maintained. The file system is based on filing code system used until 1981, and is chronological
from 1981 until 2000.
This finding aid presents the archive's contents in simple box number order (1-3182). Descriptions of most boxes consist of
"selected highlights" only; that is, material that stood out to Library staff as significant or unusual. These content notes
summarizing highlight are supplemented, in some instances, by full listing of every news story (negative sleeve) found in
the box. The majority of boxes have not had their contents listed at this sleeve level.
The following summary describes characteristics of various box number runs, broken down either by physical material type or
by arrangement scheme. Formerly, physical media (glass plates, nitrate film, and safety film) were interfiled with one another
by code. For safety and preservation purposes, media have been separated for storage, and are described here as separate series
with overlapping file code runs. (Note that the highest box number is 3182 in spite of a larger over-all box count. Some box
numbers have been divided into several physical boxes and re-numbered, for example, as Box 11a and 11b.)
- Boxes 1-218: Nitrate film negatives, General File. (Filing codes between 1 and 99577.)
- Boxes 219-609: Glass negatives, General File. (Filing codes between 1 and 141333.)
- Boxes 610-1838: Safety film, General File. (Filing codes between 40-12000 and 90000-145928. For codes 12000-90000 see Subject files in boxes 2492-2547, below.)
- Boxes 1839-2491: Chronological File. (Filed by date, 1981 to 2000. No filing codes.)
- Boxes 2492-3155: Subject Files. (Filing codes between 12100 and 77377.)
- Accidents: boxes 2492-2547. (Filing codes between 12100 and 16612.)
- Aviation: boxes 2548-2559. (Filing codes between 20000 and 21013.)
- Examiner: boxes 2560-2610. (Filing codes between 24000 and 26087.)
- Fires: boxes 2611-2639. (Filing codes between 27000 and 27551.)
- Labor: boxes 2640-2664. (Filing codes between 30000 and 30364.)
- Military: boxes 2665-2691. (Filing codes between 33000 and 33546.)
- Society: boxes 2692-3011. (Filing codes between 38000 and 42999, A38000 and A38814, and 80000-80692.)
- Sports: boxes 3012-3155. (Filing codes between 43000 and 77378.)
- Boxes 3156-3175: Large format film negatives.
- Box 3176: Miscellaneous negatives with no codes or dates.
- Boxes 3177-3182: Negatives by photographer Kim Komenich, previously separated from Chronological Files and added back into the archive at a later date.
Additional Notes on Collection
Various photographers.
Title supplied by cataloger.
For the majority of the negative archive, this finding aid briefly summarizes the contents of each storage box. Contents notes
are a list of "highlights" observed by Bancroft Library staff during arrangement and housing work. These selected highlights
notes are subjective and are not complete lists of contents. For approximatley 500 boxes (of the 3,182 box total) additional
descriptions at the sleeve (or news story) level have been added, providing a far more complete and detailed listing of the
subjects present. The library hopes to continue sleeve-level descriptive work and add to this finding aid in future.