Searching for San Francisco Orphans

View of San Francisco Protestant Orphan Asylum, 1868

The San Francisco History Center's collection of archival records from Edgewood, formerly known as the San Francisco Protestant Orphan Asylum, has always been popular with people searching for information about family members. Because so many city records were lost in the fire of 1906, the Edgewood records, which date back to 1851, are an invaluable primary source for genealogists. Luckily for us, the San Francisco Protestant Orphan Asylum was located a few blocks west of the fire line on Van Ness Avenue, on Laguna and Haight Streets.

Three boys having a bedtime snack at Edgewood Orphanage, Jan. 6, 1951

While the Edgewood Records comprise a wide range of types of information, including lots of details on administration, finances and building projects, the Records of Children form the heart of the collection and, for obvious reasons, it is the section that researchers consult the most. In the Records of Children are fifty volumes of admissions and discharge ledgers from 1851 to 1957. There is also a box of  indenture and adoption files for 1867-1916, two boxes of correspondence files for 1881-1915, a volume listing baptisms for 1898-1946, and several folders of city, state, and county documents dating from 1916-1943, which deal variously with children that have been referred from juvenile court,  are on state aid, or are otherwise connected with government administration or funding.

Two children with a plate of Easter eggs at Edgewood Orphanage, Apr. 16, 1949

Finally, and not-to-be-missed, is a lonely folder of adoption records dated 1895-1901 in the box of records from the San Francisco Nursery for Homeless Children, whose small amount of papers found its way to Edgewood after the former institution closed its doors.

You can find more details on the history of Edgewood / San Francisco Protestant Orphan Asylum, and a container list of what's in the Edgewood Records, by taking a look at the revised online finding aid posted on the Online Archive of California website. To come in person to use the Edgewood Records, please contact the San Francisco History Center 24 hours ahead of time so that we may pull the requested files from off-site storage.