Collection consists of over 65,000 35mm color slides documenting San Francisco buildings, events and locations between 1950 and early 1990s. The bulk of the collection is from the 1980s to the early 1990s and documents the architectural features of San Francisco. The majority of the color slides were shot by Robert Durden, a San Francisco native and volunteer at the San Francisco Public Library.

Robert Talbot Durden was born on July 11, 1918 to Leon Henry Durden and May Talbot Durden in San Francisco, California. Durden grew up in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and attended Polytechnic High School. Durden worked as a clerk for utility companies and retired in the early 1980s. As an amateur photographer, Durden photographed the architectural features of San Francisco buildings. During his retirement, Durden volunteered in the San Francisco History Room of the Old Main Library. In the early 1990s, Durden presented color slide lectures on the architecture of San Francisco. Durden died on September 21, 2001 in San Francisco, California.

65,000 photographic slides

All requests for permission to publish from photographs must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

The collection is available for use during Photo Desk hours.