The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's Records contain the death reports (1906-1956) of individuals who died in San Francisco and whose deaths legally required investigation. The records also include Necropsy Reports (1928-1956), six volumes of Personal Descriptions of Unknown / Unidentified Dead (1902-1927, 1931-1940), a two-volume Register of Deaths (Dec. 1906-May 1915), and one volume of Coroner's Office Statistics (1913-1931).

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, originally known as the Coroner's Office, is a county department whose legal mandate is to investigate, document, and certify sudden or unexpected individual deaths due to unnatural or unknown causes, including homicide, suicide, or accident; deaths unattended by a physician or of unidentified persons; or deaths in which there is some other potential public health interest at stake, such as suspected contagious disease.

970.0 volumes (ca.171.5 cubic feet)

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.

The collection is open for research and stored offsite. A minimum of two working days' notice is required for use. Please call the San Francisco History Center for hours and information at 415-557-4567.