The documents selected for this exhibit are primary sources that historians and other researchers study when they write about historical events. They are a selection from the files created or received by Federal agencies in or near San Francisco at the time of the disaster. They contain eyewitness testimony of the damage of the earthquake, the ensuing fires, and the desolation that was left in their wake.

SPARK follows sculptor Gary Stevens through his creative process, from harvesting unusual pieces of wood from ancient redwood forests through the painstaking work that produces his uniquely beautiful wood vessels. This Educator Guide is about the history and tradition of wood carving.

Submitted as part of the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN) Phase 3 Digital Textbook Initiative (CA DTI3), CK-12 Foundation’s Calculus FlexBook introduces high school students to the topics covered in the Calculus AB course.

This visualization shows the Southern California Fires.

A time lapse transition between relatively cloud-free true color images of California from SeaWiFS

This resource developed from KQED's QUEST, uses California’s delicately balanced watershed as an example of how the water cycle operates.

These images of the California missions show the transformation of the mission structures over the past two centuries. Some show the types of people who would have lived in or visited the missions. The missions mark California’s Spanish colonial past, and remain today as sites for community gatherings and heritage.

California has always been a place of cultural interaction. Early California evolved and changed with each new group of settlers. These images depict the developing interconnectedness of California's early cultures. They also underscore the importance of movement and later settlement of peoples in California. Some of the modern images underscore the contested and often romanticized nature of California’s Spanish and Mexican heritage. This is a collection of primary source images.

The images in this topic depict everyday life in California during a time of explosive growth. Even as the state’s mix of cultures became more interconnected, they still managed to maintain and express their unique identities. People at work, at play, posing for formal portraits, and simply walking down the street are part of a diverse and vibrant population.

Starting with the Gold Rush, Chinese migrated to California and other regions of the United States in search of work. As several photographs show, many Chinese found work in the gold mines and on the railroads. They accepted $32.50 a month to work on the Union Pacific in Wyoming in 1870 for the same job that paid white workers $52 a month. This led to deep resentment by the whites, who felt the Chinese were competing unfairly for jobs. White labor unions blamed the Chinese for lower wages and lack of jobs, and anti-Chinese feelings grew. The cartoon "You Know How It Is Yourself" expresses this sentiment. Several political cartoons in this topic are graphic representations of racism and conflicts between whites and Chinese. "Won't They Remain Here in Spite of the New Constitution?" shows a demonized figure of political corruption protecting Chinese cheap labor, dirty politicians, capital, and financiers. "The Tables Turned" shows Denis Kearney (head of the Workingman's Party of California, a union that had criticized Chinese laborers) in jail, being taunted by Chinese men. In 1880, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed the Chinese Exclusion Treaty, which placed strict limitations on the number of Chinese allowed to enter the United States and the number allowed to become naturalized citizens. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited immigration from China (The Act was not repealed until 1943). The two-part cartoon from the July-December 1882 issue of The Wasp reflects how some citizens saw the situation. After the Act was passed, anti-Chinese violence increased. One illustration depicts the Rock Springs Massacre of 1885, a Wyoming race riot in which 28 Chinese were killed by British and Swedish miners. The "Certificate of Residence" document illustrates that Chinese individuals were required to prove their residence in the United States prior to the passage of the Exclusion Act. The poster offering a reward for Wong Yuk, a Chinese man, makes it clear that the United States was actively deporting Chinese. Despite discrimination and prejudice, this first wave of immigrants established thriving communities. Photographs taken in San Francisco's Chinatown show prosperous businesses, such as the "Chinese Butcher and Grocery Shop." Wealthy merchants formed active business associations, represented by the image "Officers of the Chinese Six Companies." The Chinese celebrated their heritage by holding cultural festivals, as shown in the photograph from 1896. The photographs "Children of High Class," "Golden Gate Park," and "Chinese Passengers on Ferry" are evidence that some Chinese adopted Western-style clothing while others wore more traditional attire.

Zooming into Southern California, showing smoke plumes as seen by SeaWiFS on October 5, 1998

"Coastal Clash" is a one-hour documentary focusing on the urbanization of California's coastline. The activities and lesson plans for the film "Coastal Clash" target students at the high school level and align with the California State Standards for Government. Students will study the concept of "private property" and the Fifth Amendment, analyze arguments, and evaluate evidence to develop their own opinions.

Coastal fly down from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara (S to N).

Coastal fly down to Santa Barbara (N to S) #2

Coastal fly down from Santa Barbara to LA (N to S).

This site invites students to use documents from California As I Saw It: First Person Narratives, 1849-1900, to create hyperscripts depicting the motivations, expectations, fears, and realizations of immigrants who settled California between 1849 and 1900. Students' hyperscripts are online written dialogues that include links to illustrative written materials, images, and sound files from American Memory collections.

These images are compressed versions of high definition television (HDTV) images showing how Landsat data, which spans a very broad swatch of the electromagnetic spectrum, can be turned into images. The TIFF versions of these images are full resolution HDTV frames (1920 x 1080). All images have the HDTV standard aspect ratio (16:9). The Thematic Mapper (TM) on Landsat 4 and 5 observes reflected sunlight from the Earth all the way from blue in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum to shortwave infrared well beyond the ability of the human eye to perceive. The TM instrument also can observe infrared radiation actively emitted by the Earth from thermal infrared radiation. Landsat 7 carries an improved version of the TM instrument, called ETM+. In addition to 7 channels of spectral data collected by the older TM instruments, ETM+ can observe in a special panchromatic band spanning the entire visible spectrum at twice the resolution of the TM bands (15 meter resolution instead of 30 meters). The ETM+ also has a major improvement in the resolution of the thermal band (60 meter resolution instead of 160 meters). A standard way to create images from raw Landsat TM and ETM+ data is to display a single band as a primary color, then combine different bands to create a full color image. Images shown here demonstrate combining three bands to make a color image using TM bands 5, 4, & 2, which covers a very broad range of the TM's spectral coverage. It is also shown in combination with a digital elevation model. Terrain data is shown with vertical features exaggerated by a factor of three to emphasize details.

This animation is a birds eye view of Death Valley, California. It was created as part of a series of animations to feature our National Parks

The people who came to California in search of gold were faced with the threat of disaster in every step of their journey. Many came by ship, even though shipwrecks were commonplace ? one set of lithographs depicts four shipwrecks that occurred within 60 days. Earthquakes were another fact of life in California. Sensational newspaper illustrations like "Earth Quakey Times," and photographs showing buildings in shambles, helped build the state's reputation as an "earthquake capital." Earthquakes were not the only disasters. Several images show the city of Sacramento flooded and on fire, others show fires that destroyed parts of San Francisco and other cities. As the photograph of the firefighters at the Eureka firehouse show, some services were in place to deal with this constant threat. The popular culture of the time reflected these recurring disasters. Artists drew pictures based on survivors? accounts of train crashes and shipwrecks. Composers wrote music such as the "Flood Mazurka," about a flood in Sacramento, and songs such as "I Do Not Want to Be Drowned," dedicated to survivors of the shipwreck of the Golden Gate. Despite the many potential dangers and risks of traveling to and living in California, new people kept flowing into the state. In many ways, this situation still holds true today.