Description
The City of Berkeley California records (1878-1954) consist of records from the city clerk's office. The collection includes
records relating to the business of city government, such as the city charter, reports, town attorney opinions, city council
minutes, planning commission information, correspondence, tax sale rolls, indices, financial records, agreements, leases,
bids, ordinances, and petitions. It also contains police and fire department reports, information on public utilities including
natural gas, water, electric power, lighting, and discussion of municipally owned utilities. Additional documentation including
street infrastructure, street railways of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Key System Transit Company, the wharf and
harbor, school construction, Civil Works Administration projects, and clippings are included in the collection. The contents
are somewhat inconsistent over sporadic periods of time, however, a range of documentation on late nineteenth and early twentieth
century Berkeley is available.
Background
The City of Berkeley, California was incorporated on April 1, 1878 from two distinct settlements. Much of the area surrounding
Berkeley was given the Peralta family as a land grant from the Spanish king in 1820. After the gold rush and California statehood
in 1850, the large ranchero should have stayed in the Peralta hands. However, the large ranchero's unoccupied land quickly
filled with Americans, using "squatter's rights" or a right to occupy empty land. Confusion over rights to the lands was finally
settled in 1877, but by that time the land was already settled and the Peralta family sold their remaining land.
Restrictions
Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must
be submitted in writing to the appropriate curator or the Head of Public Services for forwarding. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright.