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Finding Aid to the San Francisco Biography Collection
SF BIO COLL
SF BIO COLL
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Table of contents
Title: San Francisco biography collection
Date (inclusive): 1850-2012
Collection Identifier: SF BIO COLL
Extent:
45.0 Linear feet
(27 file drawers)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA, 94102
415-557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite; some materials require retrieval from separate storage.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
Abstract: Consists of a wide variety of materials relating to people widely known and relatively unknown in San Francisco, the greater
Bay Area, and California. Includes materials pertaining to: prominent historical San Franciscans such as past mayors, railroad
and mining barons and their heirs, early explorers and Gold Rush and Victorian era figures; police and fire chiefs; local
and state politicians and judges; architects, especially Victorian era and practioners of the Bay Region style; bishops and
pastors; labor leaders; Olympic Club members; artists, artisans, poets, writers, and composers; restaurateurs, hoteliers,
merchants and other ordinary citizens; unique San Francisco personalities such as Emperor Norton and Mary Ellen Pleasant.
Also contains genealogical correspondence between relatives and library employees and volunteers, as well as material originating
from outside the region contributed by relatives. The subjects of these inquiries are often pioneers, 49ers, or victims of
the 1906 earthquake and fire. The range of ephemera includes: newspaper and magazine clippings, pamphlets, brochures, political
mailings and advertisements, biographical sketches, obituaries, court transcripts, certificates, receipts, fliers, correspondence,
exhibition catalogs, scrapbooks, drawings, programs and commemorative materials from consecrations, memorials, and other official
events. Individual ephemera files can contain a single item or more extensive amounts of material, ranging from photocopies
to handwritten documents.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the San Francisco Public Library. 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.
Related ephemera collections at the San Francisco Public Library include:
San Francisco Ephemera Collection
California Ephemera Collection
Grabhorn Ephemera Collection
San Francisco Menu Collection
[Identification of item/Title of folder], San Francisco Biography Collection, San Francisco Public Library.
Additions to the collection are ongoing.
Processed by San Francisco History Center staff; additional processing and description by California Ephemera Project staff,
funded by a Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources,
in 2009-2010.
Collection is arranged alphabetically by last name.
Consists of a wide variety of materials relating to people widely known and relatively unknown in San Francisco, the greater
Bay Area, and California. Includes materials pertaining to: prominent historical San Franciscans such as past mayors, railroad
and mining barons and their heirs, early explorers and Gold Rush and Victorian era figures; police and fire chiefs; local
and state politicians and judges; architects, especially Victorian era and practioners of the Bay Region style; bishops and
pastors; labor leaders; Olympic Club members; artists, artisans, poets, writers, and composers; restaurateurs, hoteliers,
merchants and other ordinary citizens; unique San Francisco personalities such as Emperor Norton and Mary Ellen Pleasant.
Also contains genealogical correspondence between relatives and library employees and volunteers, as well as material originating
from outside the region contributed by relatives. The subjects of these inquiries are often pioneers, 49ers, or victims of
the 1906 earthquake and fire.
The range of ephemera includes: newspaper and magazine clippings, pamphlets, brochures, political mailings and advertisements,
biographical sketches, obituaries, court transcripts, certificates, receipts, fliers, correspondence, exhibition catalogs,
scrapbooks, drawings, programs and commemorative materials from consecrations, memorials, and other official events.
Individual ephemera files can contain a single item or more extensive amounts of material, ranging from photocopies to handwritten
documents.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
California Ephemera Project.
Advertisements.
Brochures.
Certificates
Clippings.
Ephemera.
Exhibition catalogs.
Obituaries.
Programs.
Receipts (financial records).
Scrapbooks.