California Counties

A view of the shelves of California Counties Ephemera Collection

While the name "San Francisco History Center" implies a citywide scope, the truth of the matter is that, as with many geographical boundaries, they often bleed. So, although our focus is indeed the city and county of San Francisco, the San Francisco History Center also holds a wide range of materials on the Bay Area, the state, and even the West. We did, after all, begin in 1964 as the Californiana Collection. Amongst these books and files concerning outlying areas, we have the little-known California Counties Ephemera Collection.

Advertisement from the Watsonville
apple sale scrapbook, 1939

Similar in organization and type of materials to our San Francisco Ephemera Collection, the thirty boxes of county files are arranged in folders alphabetically by county and contain maps, guides, clippings, and all sorts of ephemera. For instance, in the box for Santa Cruz County, there is a scrapbook and binder documenting the Watsonville Apple Sale of June 1-10, 1939. That year, growers faced a surplus of 300,000 boxes of Green Pippin apples, so the Chamber of Commerce spearheaded a campaign to involve businesses, government offices, organizations, and others to promote the sale and consumption of these apples.

Santa Cruz guides, 1908-1970s

The Watsonville Apple Sale files are just one example of the fascinating subject matter awaiting  your perusal in the California Counties Ephemera Collection. Please ask Reference Desk staff for assistance when you visit.

More posts about Californiana in the San Francisco History Center will be forthcoming--watch for them!



Image credits: All images courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.