Finding Aid to the San Francisco Civil Service Commission records, 1900-2016,
SFH 468
Finding aid prepared by Tami J. Suzuki.
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
September 2021
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
sfhistory@sfpl.org
Title: San Francisco Civil Service Commission records
Date (inclusive): 1900-2016
Identifier/Call Number: SFH 468
Creator:
San Francisco. (Calif.). Civil Service Commission.
Physical Description:
207 boxes
(204 cubic feet)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
Abstract: Contains minutes and meeting files of the San Francisco Civil Service Commission.
Physical Location: The collection is stored off site.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English.
Access
The collection is open for research and stored offsite. A minimum of forty-eight hours notice is required for use. Please
call the San Francisco History Center for hours and information at 415 557-4567.
Publication Rights
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.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], San Francisco Civil Service Commmission Records (SFH 468), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco
Public Library.
Provenance
Records covering 1900-1988 were transferred from the San Francisco Civil Service Commisson in November of 1994. Subsequent
accretions covering approximately two years have been made approximately every two years since the original transfer.
Related Materials
Civil Service Commission Minutes, 1974-2018, SF C65 #5, and Agendas, 1991-2018, SF C65 #4, can be accessed in the Government
Information Center. Agendas are also bound with the minutes beginning with 1995. Supporting documents are not included.
Minutes of 1974-2015 are digitized and available online. See http://sflib1.sfpl.org/record=b1655292~S1. Agendas of 1991-2015
are digitized and available online. See http://sflib1.sfpl.org/record=b1795253~S1
The Civil Service Commission website has minutes and agendas from 1997 to present. Supporting documents are included beginning
with December of 2013. See https://sfgov.org/civilservice/meetings/10.
Historical Note
The San Francisco Civil Service Commission is charged by the City Charter with providing qualified persons for appointment
to the service of the City and County of San Francisco. The City and County of San Francisco currently employs just over 36,000
people. For the San Francisco Unified School District and Community College District, Civil Service rules apply only to classified
employees. (Teachers and administrators are covered under the Education Code.) The department establishes rules and policy;
hears appeals on examinations, eligible lists, minimum qualifications, classification, discrimination complaints, future employment
with the City, and other merit system matters; provides rules and policies interpretation; reviews and audits merit system
operation; approves contracting out based on the scope of services; and conducts training and outreach on the merit system.
The San Francisco Civil Service system was established under the Freeholder Charter of 1900 (ratified by election of May 26,
1898). The commission was created in 1900, simultaneously with the establishment of the merit system. The commission is one
of the oldest in the country, pre-dated by a few years by Chicago, New York City, and a few other eastern municipalities.
The first members of the commission were P.H. McCarthy, John E. Quinn, and Richard Freud, who were appointed by Mayor James
D. Phelan on Dec. 30, 1899. Freud was elected president. The commission's first meeting took place on Jan. 2, 1900. It was
recorded as an "informal meeting" of the commissioners. The commissioners established these provisions:
1. Exam questions will be practical and relate only to the duties of the positions.
2. Experience in public service should count for something.
3. Principles of a merit system should be adopted.
A temporary office was located in the Mills Building. The first competitive examination was held on Jan. 8, 1900 in the Mills
Building, for the position of Chief Examiner and Secretary to the Commission. On Jan. 9, Edward F. Moran was appointed to
that position.
Also on Jan. 8, 1900, temporary offices were opened to the public, in the basement of City Hall. On that date, two classes
were opened: ordinary unskilled laborers and skilled positions, including janitor, mason, carpenter, and clerical.
Charter reform of 1932 enlarged the scope of duties of the commission, giving it greater powers to enforce its rulings. For
a more detailed history, see
Civil Service Commission: History, Purpose, Organization Chart, Rules;
San Francisco: The Commission, 2000.
Scope and Contents
Contains minutes, staff reports, and meeting files of regular and special meetings of the San Francisco Civil Service Commission,
from its inception in 1900 to 2016. These cover adopted rules, exams and answer keys, applicants' names, lists of eligible
hires, names of appointments, adoptions of ordinances, and actions on policies, dismissals and hirings, and salaries. Agendas
are sometimes included, as they are in 1972 which has the year's agendas assembled in a file. Minutes are generally signed
by the commission president, although more recent minutes are signed by the executive officer.
This collection contains the only complete background documentation files, with staff reports and meeting files. Minutes and
agendas are digitized and available online from 1974 to present. Supporting documents are available online beginning Dec.
2, 2013. See Related Materials for digitized material.
The first five volumes are original, mostly handwritten minutes beginning with the creation of the commission in 1900 to March
13, 1906. There are indexes for the first three volumes, mostly indexing names of individuals. Early documents pasted into
these volumes include Civil Service Commissiion Publication No. 1, "Municipal Civil Service of San Francisco" (issued Jan.
15, 1900) and "Classifications for the Classified Civil Service o San Francisco," adopted Feb. 6, 1900.
The next set consists of mostly original and some carbon copies of typed minutes, pasted into volumes, beginning May 7, 1900.
Minutes in boxes 6 and 7, from May 7, 1900 to Oct. 17, 1907, duplicate the handwritten minutes. There is an index for the
volume containing minutes of April 16, 1906-Oct. 14, 1907.
Other documents are pasted into the pages, such as exam notifications, questions, and answer keys, and lists of eligible applicants.
Note that blueprints and examinations pasted into the handwritten minutes of March 18, 1901, May 22, 1901 and June 19, 1901
were not included in the transcribed (typed) minutes for those dates.
The entry for April 9, 1906 notes: "The notes of the minutes of April 9th were destroyed by fire." The entry for April 30.
1906 notes that the meeting was held in temporary offices in the Hamilton Grammar School.
At some point, typed minutes were bound directly into volumes. Later, typed and/or computer generated minutes were assembled
into volumes.
By Jan. 16, 1964, communications on specific matters were adopted by the commission and included with the minutes. These memos
appear with more regularity in the following months and years. At least by January of 1972, these are identified as "staff
reports."
By January of 1992, the records are labeled "meeting files" and include substantial backup documentation.
Arrangement
Organized chronologically.
Processing Information
Processed by Tami J. Suzuki in 2021.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Civil Service Commission -- Archives
Civil Service -- California -- San Francisco -- Periodicals
Minutes (Handwritten)
1900-1906
box 1
Jan. 8, 1900-Feb. 27, 1901
box 2
March 4, 1901-Jan. 25, 1902
box 3
Jan. 27, 1902-May 23, 1903
box 4
May 25, 1903-March 20, 1905
box 5
March 27, 1905-March 13, 1906
box 7
March 9, 1903-Oct. 14, 1907
box 5
Index and Appointments,
April 16, 1906-Oct. 14, 1907
box 8
Oct. 21, 1907-Dec. 11, 1909
box 9
Dec. 15, 1909-Nov. 11, 1911
box 10
Nov. 13, 1911-Aug. 26, 1912
box 10
Appointments,
July 1912-January 1917
Note
Has note: Section 4, rule 17 adopted July 15, 1912.
Minutes, Staff Reports and Agendas
1972-1989
Minutes and Staff Reports
1990-1992
box 133
Minutes with Meeting Files
1992-2016
