Great Registries, 1877-1928

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Summary

Title:
Great Registries
Dates:
1877-1928
Creators:
Registrar of Voters
Abstract:
This collection contains the Great Registries from 1877-1928 for Santa Clara County.
Extent:
27 bound books
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

Great Registries, 2006-017, Santa Clara County Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of the Great Registries of Santa Clara County from 1877-1924. The Registries are arranged alphabetically by registered voter up until 1900. Registries from 1900 on-ward are organized alphabetically by precinct with an alphabetical listing of voters within each precinct. Registries from 1916 on-ward are organized by two separate registries: one registry for the County and one for the City of San Jose but maintain the organization of precinct with an alphabetical listing of voters within each precinct.

Each registry contains the following information: name and address and political affiliation. Several of the registries will also include the following information: date of registration, occupation, age, color of eyes, color of hair, complexion, gender, height, visible marks or scars, naturalization date and location, country of nativity, political affiliation, precinct, proprietor or head of house, room, floor, ward, able to read the Constitution in English, able to write name, physically able to mark ballot and nature of disability if any.

Biographical / historical:

In 1866 California established the Great Registry Act which provided "for the registration of the citizens of the State, and for the enrollment in the several election districts of all the legal voters thereof, and for the prevention and punishment of frauds affecting the elective franchise." From this the Great Registry was created. All eligible voters were required to register. Women were able to register in 1911 but do not begin to appear in the registries until 1912.

The Registrar of Voters is a government agency whose main purpose is to ensure federal, state and local elections are conducted timely, responsibly, and with the highest level of professional election standards, accountability, security and integrity, intended to earn and maintain public confidence in the electoral process.

Acquisition information:
The records were transferred to the Archives by the Registrar of Voters in 2006.
Arrangement:

The arrangement for the Great Registries is chronological by year.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult Archives staff.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Jennifer Fanslow, Intern
Date Prepared:
© 2010
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by Trista Raezer. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: August 30, 2010.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The Archives can claim physical ownership only for some collections. Users are responsible for securing permission of the copyright holder for publication or quotation.

Preferred citation:

Great Registries, 2006-017, Santa Clara County Archives.

Location of this collection:
1875 Senter Road
San Jose, CA 95112, US
Contact:
(408) 755-7895
Archives@rec.sccgov.org
Website