Popularity Contest: Most Requested and Researched Archival Collections in 2019

Librarians and archivists like data. With over 7,000 cartons of archival materials, there's something gratifying about closing out the year with statistics which document our work in providing access to archival collections - and the history of San Francisco. In the San Francisco History Center, we gather data on which collections are used the most. This assists the archivists with decision-making on which collection to process next, handling space issues (we'll be moving to a new offsite storage facility in 2020), what to digitize...and running an annual contest on which collections were the most popular in 2019! Below are the top nine archival collections most requested in 2019 from the San Francisco History Center and the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.

San Francisco History Center's top 9 requested archival collections in 2019 --

1. San Francisco Police Department Records: Captain's orders and mug books are some of the more requested items from the records. Building researchers delve into the records based on the 12,000+ acetate negatives from the Bureau of Accident Prevention. With the focal point of each shot being the automobile accident, the majority of the shots include businesses and residences in the background. This part of the collection has made it the number one requested archive for the last 4 years.
2. San Francisco General Hospital AIDS Ward 5B/5A Archives: In 1983, this was the first dedicated AIDS hospital ward in the United States. The collection includes scrapbooks, communication books, head nurses' files, correspondence, videotapes, publications, and memorabilia collected by the nursing staff of AIDS Ward 5B/5A at San Francisco General Hospital.
3. San Francisco Unified School District Records: Want to know the history of a San Francisco public school? Here's your starting point. While there are materials from the early years of the district, the bulk of the collection is from 1874 to 1978. Major areas include administrative documents, curriculum titles, reports produced by the school district, and newspaper clippings.
4. San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Records: The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency

   

   Western Addition park groundbreaking, 1969. SFRA Records.

   (SFRA) was incorporated in 1948 under the California Community Redevelopment Law and in response to the United States Housing Act. Its purpose was to improve urban living conditions by removing what they called "blight" through the redesign, redevelopment, and rehabilitation of affected areas of the city. Our most frequent users of the collection are historians (from PhD to neighborhood enthusiasts) and artists.
5. Alcatraz Indian Occupation Records: 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz Island. The records include correspondence, minutes, legal files, promotional materials, publications, petitions, and a few objects and photographs documenting the activities of Indians of All Tribes, its governing council, and individuals involved in the occupation of Alcatraz from Nov. 1969 - June 1971.

   

   Mock-up for Alcatraz Newsletter, Vol. 1 No. 1, 1969,
   Alcatraz Indian Occupation Records

6. Paul Radin Papers: The bulk of the collection consists of surveys from Radin's supervision of over 200 workers who interviewed ethnic groups in the San Francisco Bay Area for the State Emergency Relief Administration of California (SERA) over a period of nine months in 1934-1935
7. Joseph L. Alioto Papers: This collection documents the two-term administration of Mayor Joseph L. Alioto during the years of 1967 to 1976, with the bulk of the collection covering the years 1968 to 1974. The papers provide a broad, policy-level view of the Alioto years. The collection is rich in housing and redevelopment files (see #4 on this list)
8. I. Magnin & Co. Records: The story of I. Magnin department store, with its ascension from a simple notion store of modest investment to a multi-million dollar Pacific coast store chain, as well as its financial decline in its last decades, signifies one of the great romances of the retail trade world.
9. San Francisco Department of City Planning: The Planning Department plays a central role in guiding the city's growth and development, including enforcing the Planning Code. The Planning Commission maintains the city's General Plan and advises the department on long-range goals, policies and programs, on issues related to land use, transportation, and current planning. The Planning Commission sponsored the construction of the San Francisco Scale Model - which we had pieces of at our branches this year.

San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection's top 9 requested archival collections in 2019 --

1. San Francisco Office of Assessor-Recorder Photographs: this is step #1 when searching for a photo of a building. This collection took us off the charts on requests when 94,000 more photographs were transferred to the Library and added to the existing 75,000 frames of negatives in May 2019. Great press on the transfer boosted new users of the collection.
2. Robert Durden Color Slide Collection: After one has searched the online database and the San Francisco Office of Assessor-Recorder Photographs, the next step in building research is this color slide collection. The collection consists of over 65,000 color slides documenting San Francisco buildings, events and locations between 1950 and early 1990s, with the bulk from the 1980s-1990s.
3. San Francisco Department of Public Works Photograph Collection: This collection of photographs and glass plate negatives documents the projects of DPW's Bureau of Engineering. There are 95 photograph albums and the first photograph album begins with 1907. An amazing way to see the reconstruction of San Francisco after the Earthquake and Fire of 1906.   
4. San Francisco News-Call Bulletin Photo Morgue: Over 1 million photographs in 1,200 cartons, this collection receives a steady amount of requests. If you like 20th century celebrities, athletes as well as political, social and cultural leaders, make a request. The photo morgue is our go-to for quirky blog posts!  
5. Marilyn Blaisdell Photograph Collection: With over 700 photographers and photo studios represented, this compilation is one of the greatest private collections of historical San Francisco photographs. 
6. San Francisco Postcard Collection: This collection consists of approximately 5,000 photo-mechanical postcards and 1,000 photo-postcards of San Francisco views, hotels, restaurants, streets and other popular locations. 

   

   Frank Sinatra at Kennedy rally, Mark Hopkins Hotel, 1960
   by VM Hanks Jr.

7. V.M. Hanks, Jr. Photograph Collection: Virgil McKnight Hanks, Jr. was one of San Francisco's leading photographers in the 1950s and 1960s. Hanks was photographer of record for many of San Francisco's major hotels and his work appeared frequently in local magazines and newspapers. The collection contains approximately 1,000 photographic prints and over 17,000 negatives   
8. Album - Estate of Adolph Sutro - appraised by A.S. Baldwin, 1910: The photographs depict properties forming the estate of Adolph Sutro including the Cliff House, the Sutro Baths, Sutro Heights, Ashbury Heights, Parnassus Heights, Rancho San Miguel and Sunset and Richmond districts.
9. The Tenderloin Times Photograph Archives: collection consists of approximately 6,000 photographs pertaining to the run and publication of The Tenderloin Times, a free monthly newspaper published in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, 1977 – 1994, by the Hospitality House.  Photographs document cultural activities, Tenderloin residents, local politicians campaigning, protests, AIDS activism, homelessness and advocacy.

   

   San Francisco Barbershop, 1910s. Scanned from glass plate negative by
   Turrill & Miller. Marilyn Blaisdell Photograph Collection.

Pro-tip on research in the archives: we're here to help! Both the San Francisco History Center and the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection receive transferred city records and new collections every month. If you don't see a collection or subject area represented in the archival holdings - ask us! We may have the collection and we're busy behind-the-scenes getting it ready for the public.