Environmental Design Library @ UC Berkeley

Finding Local Information: American Cultures

Finding Local Information: American Cultures is a bibliographic research guide to finding U.S. community-specific information in the context of the built environment and with an emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area and California. This guide is intended especially for use by students of UC Berkeley City Planning 118 AC and Landscape Architecture 141 AC and focuses on resources in the UC Berkeley libraries, local community, and on the web. For further assistance, please consult the Environmental Design Library reference staff, 210 Wurster Hall.

UC Berkeley faculty, registered students, and staff who are off campus may use items marked UCB Only or UC Only by using The Library's off-campus access services.

Content reviewed: June 2010. Compiled by Deborah Sommer.

Deconstruct your topic

Deconstruct your topic to uncover its complexities and hidden conceptual connections, to focus your research, and to increase your search vocabulary. The more ways you have of describing and thinking about your topic, the more information you're likely to find. Another term for deconstructing a research question is 'concept mapping;' see the Rhode Island School of Design Library's excellent slide show, Concept Mapping, for a visual tutorial.

• Write down your topic. Be brief!
• Ask the 6 journalist's questions about your chosen topic: Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?, How?
  Do your best to answer these questions. Remember to include alternative spellings.
  For example:
  Who designed/authorized/regulates the project? / Who are/were the client(s)? / Who paid for it? / Who are/were the intended users?
  What type of land use is it? / What were /are the design/regulatory/financial/social constraints?
  Where is the project located? (city, state, neighborhood, country)
  When was it/will it be planned/approved/constructed? (date completed, century, historical period)
  Why was the project approved or rejected?
  How did/does the public/client/intended audience respond to the project?
• Pay attention to the questions you can't answer about your topic. Look for for the answers in the specialized reference sources in the following section.
• Add to your 'deconstruction notes' as you learn more about your topic.
• For additional ways to explore the concepts and social factors influencing your topic, see Finding Information on Buildings and Places http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/research_buildings.html.

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Research Tools

See also these topical research guides: American Cultural Landscapes and Social & Cultural Factors in Environmental Design.

See Finding Information on Buildings & Places for stimulating questions to ask about places and tools to find answers. See Building and Landscape Types: a Guide to Information Sources for typology resources.

• Architecture everywhere: investigating the built environment of your community, by Joseph A. Weber. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Pr., 2000.
EnvDesign NA705 W43 2000
• Close-up, how to read the American city, Grady Clay, ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1980.
EnvDesign HT153 C585 1980
• Getting to know your 20th-century neighborhood, by Greta Terrell. Washington, DC: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1996. Historic Preservation Information Booklet. Focuses on American neighborhoods developed from 1900-1950; identifies architectural styles and landscaping trends.
EnvDesign NA7208 T47 1996
• The Hieroglyphics of space: reading and experiencing the modern metropolis, Neil Leach, ed. London: Routledge, 2002.
EnvDesign HT111 H45 2002
• Looking at cities, by Allan B. Jacobs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1985. See especially Chapter 3, "Clues," pp.30-83. Very useful presentation of the physical indicators that help the observer interpret an urban environment.
EnvDesign HT166 J262 1985 Reserve & circulating
• Observing and interpreting the urban environment: case study, Prescott & South Prescott, Oakland, California, by Allan B. Jacobs. Berkeley: Institute of Urban and Regional Development, Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1982. Working paper no. 374. A case study demonstrating techniques of community observation and anaylsis.
EnvDesign HT393 C2 C25 W6 no.374
• What style is it?: a guide to American architecture, by John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers, Jr. Rev. ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2003.
EnvDesign NA705 P6 2003
• Real places: an unconventional guide to America's generic landscape, by Grady Clay. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1994. Includes 124 common places, for example, bypass, district, hangout, lovers leap, parade route, porno district, shortcut, and skyl ine.
EnvDesign E169 Z82 C57 1994; Moff E169 O4 C57 1994
• [Stylistic] glossary, IN: The Guide to architecture in San Francisco and northern California, by David Gebhard, et al. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City: G.M. Smith, 1985, pp. 553-583. Guide to San Francisco Bay Area architectural styles.
EnvDesign NA735 S35 G831 1985 Reference Desk, Reference & circulating

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• Interviewing for social scientists: an introductory resource with examples, byHilary Arksey and Peter Knight. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1999.
EnvDesign & Main HM526 A75 1999
• Interviews: an introduction to qualitative research interviewing, by Steinar Kvale. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1996.
EnvDesign HM48.9 K9 1996
• Learning from strangers: the art and method of qualitative interview studies, by Robert S. Weiss. NY: Free Pr., 1995.
EnvDesign & Main HN29 W42 1995

• Discovering the history of your house and your neighborhood, by Betsy J. Green. Santa Monica, CA: Santa Monica Pr., 2002.
  EnvDesign E159 G686 2002 Reference
• Doing community history, prepared by the San Francisco Community History Project. San Francisco: The Project, 1983.
EnvDesign F869 S3 S305 1983 Reference
• Nearby history: exploring the past around you, by David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty. 2nd ed. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Pr., 2000. Excellent, well-organized manual.
EnvDesign E180.5 N98 2000
• Public places: exploring their history, by Gerald A. Danzer. Nashville, TN: American Association for State and Local History, 1987.
EnvDesign E180 D36 1987

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Directories

Community web sites are good sources of directories of contact people. Local telephone books can be helpful, too.

• abagOnline (Association of Bay Area Governments) Includes well-organized links to San Francisco Bay Area cities, counties, and regional organizations.
http://www.abag.ca.gov/
• Bay Area directory: city and county governments. Oakland: ABAG.
EnvDesign JK8731 A78 latest ed. Reference Desk
• California local government information website (UC Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies Library) A well-organized web site of links to California local governments' web sites, including directories of city & county web sites.
http://igs.berkeley.edu/library/cagovdocs/
• State and local government on the net: a directory of official state, county, and city government websites U.S. only.
http://www.statelocalgov.net/index.cfm

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Finding Books & Related Materials

Start with Melvyl for the most comprehensive coverage of UC Berkeley library holdings. For additional tips, see the Guide to Library Catalogs.

Here are selected subject terms for searching the library catalogs. Remember that you can combine subjects or subjects and keywords.

Here are examples of ways to search for specific areas or neighborhoods within a city:

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Finding Journal Articles

The selected indexes listed here may be helpful; in addition, the following lists of journal indexes and abstracts may be useful: Architecture, City Planning, Environmental Planning, and Landscape Architecture. To boost your article retrieval skills take a drop-in class at Moffitt Library. For UC Only or UCB Only indexes and databases, go to The Library's home page→ Find Information→ Articles.

• Academic search complete via EBSCO - UC Only Indexes articles in more than 1,500 general interest journals and scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and general sciences. Abstracts and full text available for many titles indexed. There are many book review citations, especially in the humanities and social sciences.
Coverage: 1980--
• Alternative press index and archive via FirstSearch/OCLC - UCB Only Citations are drawn from roughly 380 alternative, radical, and left publications. Useful for identifying community-based and alternative public policy perspectives on housing, land use, the environment, etc., outside of the mainstream. Most journals aren't indexed elsewhere.
Online coverage: 1991--
Print ed.: 1969-- ; Doe Stack HM101 A12 A55
• AltPress watch via ProQuest - UCB Only A full-text resource that covers newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative and independent press. Good for environmental justice and environmental policy issues. East Bay Express is included starting 6/01.
Coverage: 1995--
• America: history and life via EBSCO - UC Only Contains article abstracts and bibliographical citations of reviews and dissertations on the history and culture of the U.S. and Canada from prehistoric times to the present. Excellent index for American cultural history and popular culture.
Online ed.: 1982--
Print ed.: 1954-- ; Doe Stack E3 A43
• Anthropology plus via Eureka/RLG - UC Only Contains citations to articles and essays in the fields of anthropology and archaeology. Subjects covered include art history, landscape history, ethnohistory, geography, folklore, geology, and history. Useful subject terms include: cities and towns history [name of place]; city planning history; extinct cities; land settlement patterns [name of place]; and, urbanization history.
Coverage: 1984--
• Avery index to architectural periodicals via CSA - UC Only | Video Tutorial Indexes articles in 1,000+ periodicals in architecture, planning, urban design, & related disciplines.
Online ed.: 1890--
Print ed.: 1890-1995, EnvDesign fNA8 C64 1973 Index
• Bibliography of native North Americans on disc (CD-ROM Network) - UCB Only Includes 70,000 citations from books, journal articles, essays, conference papers, and U.S. government documents covering 17 broad regions comprising 290 ethnic groups of native North America, from the 16th century to 1992.
Online ed.: Library networked workstations
Print ed.: Ethnographic Bibliography of North America, 1941-1990. Various editions and locations.
• Black studies database - UCB Only Digital version of indexing from The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of The New York Public Library. Indexes over 150 journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, pamphlets and reports relevant to the Black experience and the African Diaspora.
  Coverage: 1948-1986
• -----. Black studies on disc (CD-ROM Network) - UCB Only Provides current access to the Catalog of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Index to Black Periodicals.
Coverage: 2004-- ; Library networked workstations
• Chicano database via Eureka/RLG, Univ. of California. Indexes all types of materials on Mexican-American topics, and since 1992, materials on other Latino cultures.
Coverage: 1967--
• Geography via Ovid - UCB Only Covers the international literature in physical and human geography, providing access to information from over 2000 journals, monographs, books, conference proceedings reports, and theses.
Coverage: 1990--
• HAPI online; Hispanic American periodical index - UC Only Includes citations to articles, documents, book reviews, and original literary works in more than 500 social science and humanities journals on Latin America, the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, and Hispanics in the U.S. Links to selected full-text articles via Ingenta or JSTOR.
Coverage: 1970--
• IngentaConnect - UCB Only Provides full-text access to domestic and international scholarly & academic publications, in a wide range of subject areas, including city planning.
Coverage: Varies
• International index to Black periodicals (IIBP) - UCB Only Includes current and retrospective bibliographic citations and abstracts from 150+ scholarly and popular journals, newspapers and newsletters from the U.S., Africa, and the Caribbean, and full-text coverage of core Black studies periodicals, 1998 forward.
Coverage: Varies, 1910--
• Journal of planning literature. This excellent publication lists and abstracts recent books and journal articles, arranged by subject, including community development, discrimination, and urban sociology.
Online ed.: 1997--
Print ed.: 1985/86--; EnvDesign NA9000 J687 Index
• JSTOR - UCB Only A full-text archive of interdisciplinary scholarly journal literature, including sociology, African-American studies, and political science.
Coverage: Varies
• Left index - UCB Only Provides access to international leftist and radical scholarship, including citations and abstracts and some full text from journals, books, links to internet documents, etc. Topics include ecology & environment, race & ethnicity, social & cultural theory, sociology, etc.
Coverage: 1982--
• Native North Americans on disc (CD ROM Network) - UCB Only Includes 70,000 citations from books, journal articles, essays, conference papers, and U.S. government documents covering 17 broad regions comprising 290 ethnic groups of native North America.
Online ed.: 1984-- ; Library networked workstations
• Sociological abstracts via CSA - UC Only Indexes journal articles, book chapters, & reviews from over 1,900 journals, books, book chapters, and reviews in the social sciences. Excellent source for public policy topics.
Online ed.: 1963--
Print ed.: 1952-- ; Main Stack HM15.5 S6 Library use only
• Urban studies & planning - UCB Only Provides indexing to and full text of 12 journals published by SAGE Publications and participating societies, some journals going back 37 years.
Coverage: Varies

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Selected Readings

Here are selected readings about American communities. Use the subject headings in this guide to discover more.

• American dreamscape: the pursuit of happiness in postwar suburbia, by Tom Martinson. NY: Carroll & Graf, 2000.
EnvDesign HT351 M37 2000
• The California cauldron: immigration and the fortunes of local communities, by William A.V. Clark. NY: Guilford Pr., 1998.
EnvDesign F870 A1 C53 1998
• Center for Immigration Studies. Site includes many full-text publications on American immigration.
http://cis.org/ImmigrationReadingList
• City against suburb: the culture wars in an American metropolis, by Joseph A. Rodriguez. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999. Focuses on the San Francisco Bay Area.
EnvDesign HN80 S4 R63 1999
• Making the invisible visible: a multicultural planning history - UCB Only, Leonie Sandercock, ed. Berkeley: Univ. of California Pr., 1998.
EnvDesign HT166 M2464 1998
• Race and home ownership, 1900 to 1990, by William J. Collins, Robert A. Margo. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1999. (National Bureau of Economic Research working paper no. 7277)
Online access: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w7277.pdf
Print ed.: Bus&Econ H62.5 U5 N351 no.7277
• Suburban nation: the rise of sprawl and the decline of the American Dream, by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck. NY: North Point Pr., 2000.
EnvDesign HT384 U5 D83 2000
• Towards cosmopolis: planning for multicultural cities, by Leonie Sandercock. NY: J. Wiley, 1998.
EnvDesign HT166 S219 1997
• Urban enclaves: identity and place in America, by Mark Abrahamson. NY: St. Martin's Pr., 1996.
Moffitt E184 A1 A24 1996
• Urban planning in a multicultural society, by Michael A. Burayidi. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000.
EnvDesign HT165.5 U75 2000

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Encyclopedias

To find encyclopedias on a topic, in Melvyl search by subject, adding the term encyclopedia to your subject word(s).

• American immigrant cultures: builders of a nation, David Levinson, Melvin Ember, eds. 2 vols. NY: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1997.
Doe Refe E184 A1 A63448 1997
• The Asian American encyclopedia, Franklin Ng, ed., NY: Marshall Cavendish Corp., 1995. 6 vols.
Main-Library use only, S-S/EAsia-Ref E184 O6 A827 1995; Ethn Studies E184 A8 N52 Ref
• Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history: the Black experience in the Americas, Colin A. Palmer, ed. in chief. 2nd ed. 6 vols. NY: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 2006.
Doe Refe & Moff Refe E185 E54 2006
• Encyclopedia of multiculturalism, Susan Auerbach, ed. 6 vols. NY: Marshall Cavendish Corp., 1994.
Main E184 A1 E58 1994
• Gale encyclopedia of multicultural America, Robert von Dassanowsky, contributing ed., 2nd ed. 3 vols. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000.
Moffitt Refe & Doe Refe E184 A1 G14 2000
• Handbook of Hispanic cultures in the United States, Nicolas Kanellos, Claudio Esteva-Fabregat, general eds., Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1993-1994.
Doe Refe & Moffitt Refe E184 S75 H365 1993; Ethn Studies E184 S75 H264 1993 v.4 Ref.
• Harvard encyclopedia of American ethnic groups, Stephan Thernstrom, ed. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Pr., 1980
EnvDesign E184 A1 H35 Reference; Main & Ethn Stud E184 A1 H35
• Latino America: a state-by-state encyclopedia, Mark Overmyer-Velázquez, ed. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.
Doe Refe & Ethn Studies Reference E184 S75 O838 2008

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General Plans

General plans are an excellent source of local planning information. General plans have many synonyms, among them comprehensive plan, development plan, land-use plan, master plan, and urban plan. Simply stated, a general plan is "the official statement of a municipal legislative body which sets forth its major policies concerning desirable future physical development..." (Kent, The Urban general plan, 1964).

• Finding general plans (UC Berkeley, Library) A guide to finding general plans, with a California emphasis.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/planning_generalplans.html

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Newspapers

Sometimes the only record of a hot community issue is in the local media. In addition to the indexes listed here, some newspapers are available full text on the web; information regarding archives of older issues is sometimes available at these sites. For a list of online full-text American and international newspapers, go to the The Library's home page→ Find Information→ Articles→ News Article Databases.

• Access world news via NewsBank - UCB Only Full-text database of articles from regional, national, and international newspapers and newswires, including many California papers such as Contra Costa Times (1995-current), Fresno Bee (1986-current), Santa Rosa Press Democrat (1994-current), Sacramento Bee (1984-current), San Francisco Chronicle (1985-current), and San Jose Mercury News (1985-current). Articles are available the day after publication.
Online coverage: Varies
• AltPress watch via ProQuest - UCB Only A full-text resource that covers newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative and independent press. Good for public policy issues. East Bay Express is included starting June 2001.
Online coverage: 1995--
• California newspapers (News Link) Organized by place within broad categories (e.g., dailies, business, alternative).
Online coverage: Varies
• Ethnic newswatch via ProQuest- UC Only Full-text coverage of approximately 200 newspapers and other periodicals published by ethnic and minority presses in the U.S. Good resource for ethnic community information. Indexed in English and Spanish.
Online coverage: 1960--
• Lexis-Nexis academic - UCB Only Indexes more than 6,000 newspaper and journal titles, including ethnic and regional newspapers, and provides some articles full text.
Online coverage: Varies
• New America media. Includes the full text of many ethnic news media, many with English translations, as well as NAM original articles.
Online coverage: Varies

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Statistics & Data

Here's a small selection of statistical resources. For a more comprehensive list, including some full text, see Statistics & Data for City Planning: United States (American focus with a California emphasis).

• ABAG data center (Association of Bay Area Governments) Great source of San Francisco Bay Area economic and demographic statistics. Here is a selection of the categories available. ---Population and demographics ---Land use and maps ---Real estate and housing.
http://www.abag.ca.gov/abag/overview/datacenter/
• American factfinder (U.S. Census Bureau)Users can create a variety of tables, reports, or maps with information on their community.
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html
• Bay Area census (Metropolitan Transportation Commission & the Association of Bay Area Governments) Very useful and well-designed site. Aggregates Census 2000 data for the nine Bay Area counties. Includes maps.
http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/
• California county profiles (Calif. Dept. of Finance) Compilation of selected economic, social, and demographic data for California and its 58 counties.
http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/fs_data/profiles/pf_home.htm
Print ed.: 1996--; Main Stack HA262 C68; latest in Doe Refe
• California demographics (Calif. Dept. of Finance, Demographic Research Unit) Includes California demographic data, selected full-text reports and papers, catalog of publications, etc.
http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/Demograp/druhpar.htm
• Federal government statistics (UC Berkeley, Library) A directory of useful links to social and demographic data, including the U.S. Census Bureau.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff/govinfo/federal/gov_usstat.html#population
• Projections...: forecasts for the San Francisco Bay Area to the year..., population, households, income, employment. Association of Bay Area Governments. Oakland: ABAG. Provides a wealth of demographic data and projections for the 9-county region, each county and city.
EnvDesign HD5726 S4 P72 latest Reference Desk; Reference
• Racial and ethnic diversity, by Cheryl Russell. 6th ed. Ithaca, NY: New Strategist Publications, 2002. Consists of updated statistical profiles drawn primarily from 2000 Census data.
EnvDesign E184 A1 R87 2006 Reference

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Codes

• California local codes and charters (UC Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies Library) Comprehensive directory of online full text California municipal codes and charters.
http://igs.berkeley.edu/library/cagovdocs/calcodes.html
• Municipal codes online (Seattle Public Library) Comprehensive directory of links to full-text American municipal codes on the web.
http://www.spl.org/selectedsites/municode.html

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Maps

• Earth Sciences & Map Library (UC Berkeley) The largest collection of maps in northern California and one of the largest university map collections in the United States. Supplementing its superb collection is an excellent comprehensive directory of online map collections and resources.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/
• Maps worldwide Searchable international online collection of aerial photographs.
http://www.mapsworldwide.com
• MSR maps (Microsoft Co.) Formerly TerrraServer-USA, the site offers free, public access to online maps and aerial photographs of the United States.
http://msrmaps.com/default.aspx
• Thomas Bros. maps: Excellent street maps in book form. Volumes for Bay Area counties are available at the Environmental Design Library Reference Desk. Other volumes available in the Earth Sciences/Maps Library.

Also called fire insurance maps, Plat maps show a variety of details, including actual lot boundaries, special uses, building materials and building footprints. For a perspective on ways to use plat maps for research, see Cathy Moulder's article, Fire insurance plans as a data source in urban research: an annotated bibliography of examples, in Art reference quarterly, V.1:3, 1993. See also Plat Maps--California.

• Digital Sanborn maps, 1867-1970 (UMI) - UCB Only Site provides digital access to more than 660,000 large-scale maps of more than 12,000 American towns and cities. The maps "are large-scale plans containing... information such as the outline of each building, the size, shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location of windows and doors. The maps also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers."
  http://sanborn.umi.com/
• Fire insurance maps (UC Berkeley, Library) Links to description of and indexes to fire insurance maps.
  http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/sanborn.html
• -----. Fire insurance maps in the Library of Congress: plans of North American cities and towns produced by the Sanborn Map Company: a checklist, compiled by the Reference and Bibliography Section, Geography and Map Division. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1981.
EnvDesign HG9771 U54 1981 Reference; Earth Sci HG9771 U54 1981 Reference with microforms
• U.S. historical city maps (Univ. of Texas, Austin) Digitized maps from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the Univ. of Texas at Austin.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historic_us_cities.html

Plat maps--California (Sanborn Insurance Company): Available on microfilm. Originals of various dates and cities are available at the Library of Congress, Bancroft Library, Oakland Public Library, and the California Historical Society.

• Sanborn fire insurance maps: California 1884-1952 | Index
Earth Sci Microfilm 31073
• Sanborn maps of California, 1911-1991 | Index
  Earth Sci Microfilm 77648
• San Francisco Maps, courtesy of San Francisco Genealogy. Guide and links to historic, street and other maps.
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/sfmaps.htm
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, San Francisco, California, 1899/1900, courtesy of San Francisco Genealogy. The black and white maps presented here are from six volumes that covered San Francisco in 1899 and 1900. To locate a specific location, consult the various indexes to locate the correct Map Sheet. Then select the appropriate link.
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/sanborn/sanborn.htm
• Insurance maps of Berkeley, California, Sanborn Map Company. NY: The Co., 1911. Includes Albany and parts of Emeryville and Oakland.
EnvDesign fffG1529 B6 S3Rare v.2 only, 1911 corrected to 1933

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• Catalog of aerial photography (UC Berkeley, Library) Searchable catalog of the Earth Sciences & Map international aerial photo collection, with special strength in California images. Site also includes links to other campus aerial photo collections.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/air-catalog.html
• Earth Sciences & Map Library (UC Berkeley) has an excellent collection of aerial photos of California, 1939--present. A master index is available in the Earth Sciences Library. Some digitized aerial photos of the San Francisco Bay Area are available online.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/aerial2.html

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Images

• Image-based research: a sourcebook for qualitative researchers, Jon Prosser, ed. Bristol, PA: Falmer Pr., 1998.
EnvDesign GN347 I43 1998
• Visual methodologies: an introduction to the interpretation of visual materials, by Gillian Rose. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001.
EnvDesign & Main Stack P93.5 R67 2001

• Access to archival databases (AAD) (U.S. Natl. Archives & Records Administration) Searchable databases of records in the U.S. National Archives: print, still photos, film, video, etc. Can retrieve digital copies of selected textual documents, photographs, maps, and sound recordings.
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/
• American landscape and architectural design, 1850-1920, Harvard Univ. This collection of approximately 2,800 lantern slides represents an historical view of American buildings and landscapes built during the period 1850-1920. Offers views of cities, specific buildings, parks, estates and gardens. In addition to photographs, views include plans, maps, & models. Also indexed in the American Memory project.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/award97/mhsdhtml/aladhome.html
• American memory (U.S. Library of Congress)Multimedia collections of digitized documents, photographs, recorded sound, moving pictures, and text from the Library of Congress' Americana collections, representing a rich archive of images and text on U.S. urban history.
http://rs6.loc.gov/amhome.html
• Archives of American gardens, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. The Archive contains thousands of photographic images, which are searchable through the Smithsonian's archives, manuscripts, and photographs catalog.
• California heritage project (UC Berkeley, Library) A "digital" archive containing photographs, pictures, and manuscripts from the collections of the Bancroft Library. Includes many historical images of San Francisco Bay Area places.
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/calheritage.html
• Historic American building survey/Historic American engineering record, U.S. National Park Service. The HABS/HAER collections contain more than 363,000 measured drawings, large-format photographs, and written histories for more than 37,000 historic structures and sites dating from the 17th to the 20th century. See also California HABS.
• Image sources for the built environment (UC Berkeley, Library) A list of links to web sites of images of the built or designed environment.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/research_images.html
• San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection (San Francisco Public Library) Copies of the images may be ordered; many are available for use with proper permission. These images are only a portion of the total holdings of the San Francisco Public Library.
http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=0200000301

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• Historic American buildings survey (HABS) [microfiche]. Organized by state. Collections include photographs and written historical and descriptive data. Search the catalogs for title Historic American Buildings survey [name of state].
EnvDesign MICROFICHE call number varies
• -----. Historic American buildings survey: California: measured drawings... [photocopy] Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). 4 vols. 1934. Photocopy from the microfilm copy in the Library of Congress.
EnvDesign NA730 C2 H49 Reference
• -----. Historic American buildings survey (HABS). California [microfiche]. Teaneck, NJ: Somerset House, 1980. Photographs and written historical and descriptive data.
EnvDesign MICROFICHE.5224
• Historic American building survey/Historic American engineering record - HABS/HAER(U.S. Library of Congress, American Memory) Contains searchable digitized images from the HABS/HAER collections.
  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/

Indexes to HABS/HAER

• America preserved: a checklist of historic buildings, structures, and sites recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record. 60th anniversary ed. Washington, D.C: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 1995. Indicates types of illustration and documentation included in records for historic buildings, neighborhoods, and sites, e.g., photogrammetric images, measured drawings, etc.
  EnvDesign E159 A37 1995 Reference
• HAER checklist: 1969-1985. By state and county, a list of images in the Historic American Engineering Record collection, including factories, bridges, and other "non-building" structures.
  EnvDesign E159 H1361 1985 Reference
• California architecture: historic American buildings survey (HABS), by Sally B. Woodbridge. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1988. Includes a "Catalogue of buildings included in the Historic American Buildings Survey of California," pp.105-269. Illustrated.
EnvDesign NA730 C2W65 1988 Reference

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Special Collections

• Environmental Design Archives (UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design) The collections include the work of most of the San Francisco Bay Region’s historically significant architects and landscape architects, represented by drawings, plans, specifications, photographs, audio-tapes, personal papers, etc. Access is by appointment only.
http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/
• List of collectionshttp://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/listcoll.html
• Selected finding aids: Finding aids describe the contents of archival collections; online finding aids are frequently enhanced with selected digitized images from those collections. The Online Archive of California offers a convenient list of the Environmental Design Archives' finding aids.
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/institutions/UC+Berkeley::Environmental+Design+Archives
• Index to current urban documents - UCB OnlyNY: Greenwood Pr. The key national resource for local government publications of the U.S. Online edition contains citations to and the full text (PDF format) of local government publications from approximately 500 cities and counties in the U.S. and Canada. The Index is a good source of locally generated socioeconomic statistics, public health and social service planning, and business and physical infrastructure information.
Online ed.: 2000-- ; available from The Library's home page→ Find Information→ Articles.
Print ed.: 1972-- ; EnvDesign JS13 A12M85 Index; Index & full text documents on microfiche in Institute of Governmental Studies Library
• SPIRO (UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design, Architecture Visual Resources Center). The visual online public access catalog to approximately 16% of the Architecture Slide Library's collection of over 200,000 35mm slides. The collection is available to UCB faculty and graduate students.
http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/spiro/

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Local Guides & Sources

Here is a sample of available web sites and print materials that will help you find information about specific places in California. Check the library catalogs for the availability of additional print resources.

• San Francisco architecture: the illustrated guide to over 1,000 of the best buildings, parks and public artworks in the Bay Area, by Sally B. Woodbridge and John M. Woodbridge. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1992.
EnvDesign NA735 S35 W64 1992 Reference Desk
• San Francisco Bay Area architects & architecture: resources (UC Berkeley, Library) Bibliographic research guide to the built environment of the San Francisco Bay Area.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/research_sfbayarea.html

• Berkeley neighborhoods, 1950. Berkeley: Berkeley City Planning Commission, 1950. Includes maps.
EnvDesign NA9127 B4 A25 Reference Desk & circulating
• The Jack London District Association
http://jlda.org/
• Neighborhood profiles [Oakland]. Oakland: Oakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal (OCCUR). Includes profiles of selected Oakland neighborhoods: Central East Oakland, Chinatown, Elmhurst, Fruitvale, North Oakland, Oakland Hills [1998 only], San Antonio, and West Oakland. Each brief profile includes a land use map, district characteristics, community concerns, a neighborhood history, etc.
EnvDesign HN80 O2 N4 1988 & 1998 Reference Desk
• Oakland district handbook, by Nancy Curns. [San Francisco?]: Coro Foundation, 1984.
EnvDesign JS1248 C8 1984a Reference Desk
• Profiles of community planning areas: San Francisco's eastern neighborhoods, by San Francisco Planning Dept. San Francisco, CA: The Dept., 2002.
  EnvDesign HT168 S4 S28 2002 Reference Desk
• San Francisco neighborhood profiles. [San Francisco]: San Francisco Planning Dept., 1997.
EnvDesign HA730 S4 S3 1997 Reference Desk

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Historical Societies & Museums

Local libraries and historical societies are often excellent sources of community-level information and images.

• State historical agencies (American Association for State and Local History) Directory of web links to state historical agencies and societies, many of which provide links to local historical societies.
http://www.aaslh.org/cgi-bin/stateagencies.cgi
• California cultural directory (California State Historical Society) Includes links to California historical agencies.
http://www.calhist.org/Support_Info/CHAs.html
• Bay Area historical societies (selected list):
• Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association http://www.berkeleyheritage.com/
• Berkeley Historical Society Museum http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/
• California Historical Society http://www.calhist.org
• Chinese Historical Society of America http://www.chsa.org/
• Contra Costa County Historical Society http://www.cocohistory.com/?b1b7cb08
• History San José http://www.historysanjose.org/
• Marin County Historical Society http://www.marinhistory.org/
• Marin Museum of the American Indian http://www.marinindian.com/
• Mexican Museum http://www.mexicanmuseum.org/
• Napa County Historical Society http://www.napahistory.org/
• Oakland Heritage Alliance http://www.oaklandheritage.org/
• Richmond Museum of History http://www.richmondmuseumofhistory.org/index.htm
• San Francisco Architectural Heritage http://www.sfheritage.org/
• San Francisco Museum & Historical Society http://www.sfhistory.org/

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Local & UC Berkeley Campus Libraries

• Libraries on the web: USA public libraries http://www.lib-web.org/Public_main.html
• California public library directory (PDF) (Calif. State Library) http://www.library.ca.gov/lds/docs/CaliforniaPublicLibraryDirectory.pdf
• Bay Area community libraries (selected list):
• Alameda County Library - Maurice Marks Center for Local & California History: Focuses on the Tri-city area of Southern Alameda County (Fremont, Newark and Union City). http://www.aclibrary.org/
• American Indian Center of Santa Clara Valley - American Indian Center Library (408) 971-0772
• Berkeley Public Library - Berkeley History Room (510) 649-308 http://www.infopeople.org/bpl/
• Contra Costa County Library - Local history resources (510) 646-6423 http://ccclib.org/
• Marin County Free Library - Anne T. Kent California History Room (415) 499-3220 http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/LB/Main/crm/index.html
• MTC-ABAG Library - (510) 464-7836 http://www.mtc.ca.gov/library/
• Oakland Public Library - African American Museum and Library, Asian Branch Library, César E. Chávez Branch (Spanish-language & Chicano collections), Native American Collections--Dimond Branch, Oakland History Room http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/
• Richmond Public Library (510) 620-6555 http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/index.asp?NID=105
• San Francisco Public Library - San Francisco History Center (415) 557-4400 http://sfpl.org/index.php
• San José Public Library - California Room (408) 277-4846 http://www.sjpl.org/
• University of California, Berkeley Libraries (selected list):
  • Anthropology Library 230 Kroeber Hall - Anthropology and ethnography collections http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ANTH/
    
  • The Bancroft Library - Western Americana non-circulating collections; primary source material, including images http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
  • Business Library S352 Haas School of Business - Includes real estate materials http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/BUSI/
  • Doe Reference Center 2nd Floor, Doe Library - Reference service for state, federal, & international governmental publications http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff/reference.html
  • Earth Sciences & Map Library 50 McCone Hall - Includes maps, atlases, aerial photos, plat maps, etc. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/
  • Environmental Design Library 210 Wurster Hall - City planning, urban design, environmental planning,
    architecture, and landscape architecture http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/
  • Ethnic Studies Library 30 Stephens Hall - Asian American, Chicano, Native American studies, and comparative ethnic studies collections http://eslibrary.berkeley.edu/
  • Institute of Governmental Studies Library 109 Moses Hall - American public policy non-circulating collections, with an emphasis on California & the SF Bay Area http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/
  • Public Health Library 1 University Hall - Supports the School of Public Health http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/PUBL/
  • Social Welfare Library 227 Haviland Hall - Supports the School of Social Welfare http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SOCW/

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