The San Joaquin County Chapter of the American Red Cross Collection contains: histories; minutes (1898-); correspondence (1905-) and other materials, notably those relating to Fund Drives (1940-1953) and Blood Campaigns. The largest component of the collection is the Chapter's forty scrapbooks which document Chapter activities through newspaper clippings and other small documents. Many of these were created by Stella S. Swenson, who served as Chairman of the Publicity Committee for several years. Papers for the period between 1953 and the mid-1980's are relatively scarce, but many exist from 1993 to the present. The photographic portion of the collection boasts almost 500 images of local, national and international relief efforts. The collection also contains numerous books, periodicals and manuals on first aid, disaster relief and volunteer service arms of the organization published by the American Red Cross.

The San Joaquin County Chapter of the American Red Cross was founded as a service organization during the Spanish-American War (1898). Early activities included making surgical dressings and collecting funds to aid in the war effort in the Philippines. The Chapter again became active to aid victims of the San Francisco Earthquake (1906), raising money and collecting supplies to send to the Bay Area. First Aid and Lifesaving courses were also integral to the Chapter early in the century. World War I saw the Chapter raise funds and serve other needs in relief efforts. During these years the Junior Red Cross, involving thousands of local youths, was created. Later the Red Cross established a municipal summer camp for boys and girls at Silver Lake (1935). With the onset of World War II the Red Cross organized War Fund Campaigns and a plethora of other programs, local, national, and international in scope. Following the war the Red Cross emphasized the collection of donated blood and the San Joaquin Chapter opened its Regional Blood Bank, complete with mobil service visits to local communities (1948). Fund Campaigns continued throughout the 1940's and early 1950's, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars for the American Red Cross. During the 1960s and 1970s the Chapter provided thousands of dollars in relief, in both minor and major disasters at local, national, and international levels. The San Joaquin County Red Cross Chapter built a new facility in Stockton in 1987.

Collection is open for research.