Photographs

The Historic Photograph Collection includes over 2,500 historical images focused on San Jose and Santa Clara County.

About the Collection

The Historic Photograph Collection includes over 2,500 contact prints, negatives, transparencies, and 35mm slides comprising diverse subjects including schools, churches, businesses, parades, valley views, theaters, street scenes, hotels, the 1906 earthquake, the Winchester House, and residents.

Clyde Arbuckle

The majority of the images come from two photographic collections within the California Room. The first is a general collection acquired through various donors . The second is the Clyde Arbuckle Research Collection, purchased from the heirs City Historian, Clyde Arbuckle after his death in 1998.

The bulk of the Historic Photograph Collection focuses on the history of the Bay Area, particularly San José and the Santa Clara Valley from 1870 - 1970s.

The Digital Collection

The digital collection currently includes a representative selection of historic photographs from the California Room. New images are added as they are digitized.

Do you recognize a person, place or thing in the photographs that has not been identified in the description? If you have information about any of the images in the collection, or seek information about using these images, please contact the California Room.