This collection contains historical records and reports of the Sonoma County Grand Jury. Grand Jury Report records include minutes of the Grand Jury from July 6, 1934 to Jan. 26, 1948. Historical records of the Final Report series may be stored offsite, or in some cases at Closed Stacks in the Downtown Santa Rosa library. More recent issues of the Grand Jury Final Report (1994-) are available in some branch libraries

A Grand Jury derives its name from the fact that it usually has a greater number of jurors than a trial (petit) jury. One of the earliest concepts of Grand Juries dates back to early Greece where the Athenians used an accusatory body. In early Briton, the Saxons also used something similar to a Grand Jury System. During the years 978 to 1016, one of the Dooms (laws) stated that for each 100 men, 12 were to be named to act as an accusing body. They were cautioned "not to accuse an innocent man or spare a guilty one."

63 volumes

Collection does not circulate and may be photocopied or photographed by arrangement only.

Materials stored offsite, but collection is open to research. In many cases, further details on individual volumes can be found by calling staff at the Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library. To view these materials, please call staff at to request they be brought from the Archives to the Library