This site provides 26 films of San Francisco from before and after the Great Earthquake and Fire. The earthquake struck on April 18, 1906, along the San Andreas Fault, damaging most central California cities and killing more than 3,000 people. These films show Market Street, Chinatown, a parade, San Francisco viewed from a balloon, and vast devastation from the 8.3 magnitude earthquake and 3-day fire.

This site consists of texts and illustrations of 190 works documenting California's history from the Gold Rush to the turn of the century. It captures the pioneer experience; encounters between Anglo-Americans and the diverse peoples who had preceded them; the transformation of the land by mining, ranching, agriculture, and urban development; the often-turbulent growth of communities and cities; and California's emergence as both a state and a place of uniquely American dreams.

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.

This is a primary source photo collection on Californios, elite families that received large land grants from Spain and Mexico, flourished during the 1830s to 1880s. The hand-drawn diseño maps underscore their vital connection to land ownership. The more formal surveyed maps that followed US acquisition of California show changing values regarding land ownership. As Californios lost land and power in the late 19th century, they tried to adapt to these changes by using social networks to maintain their identities as elites. The formal portraits were one way to bolster this image. Photographs of the Ramona Pageant from the 1950s testify to the mythologizing of California's Mexican and Spanish pastoral heritage less than 100 years later.

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.

These images show the importance of both California's natural and human resource potential to the state’s development and subsequent wealth. Natural resources like water, lumber, and oil — along with human-driven resources like transportation, agriculture, and technology — have all contributed to California's growth. These natural resources drew many different ethnic groups to the state: human resources that would construct railways and aqueducts, plant crops and harvest them, strike it rich in oil or minerals, and innovate new technology.

The images in this topic show how Californians in the late 19th century worked and played. Many of these photographs reflect the manual labor (mining, logging, agriculture) and services (like barber shops and grocery stores) that supported the rapid growth of cities and towns. As they do today, people spent their free time doing quiet activities like painting, enjoying themselves outdoors, riding bicycles and camping.

The images in this topic offer a glimpse of the ways people in cities and towns across California relaxed and entertained themselves during the first half of the 20th century. As new technologies and improved communications brought changes to the work week, people had more free time and new choices about how to spend it.

The images in this topic provide a look at the everyday lives of Californians during the decade of the 1930s. Although many people struggled to survive during the Great Depression, these photographs also show that some still found employment, and many managed to enjoy themselves despite the hard economic times.

These images by Los Angeles–based photographer Maynard L. Parker show suburban homes in California in the two decades following World War II. Many appeared in popular house and design magazines of the era. They offered middle–class consumers a new way of living that emphasized a relaxed, low–maintenance, private, indoor–outdoor experience.

Historical images on a map of California show city scenes throughout the state in the late-19th and early-to-mid-20th centuries.

Historical images on a map of California show the development of civic buildings--missions, courthouses, city halls, and the State Capitol building--throughout the state.

Historical images on a map of California show disasters--flood, earthquake, fire, and disasease--throughout the state.

Historical images on a map of California show everyday life throughout the state in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Historical images on a map of California show the development of transportation in the mid-1800s through early 1900s.

This site presents 8,000 photos, paintings, letters, diary excerpts, pamphlets, and speeches that portray the experiences of Chinese immigrants in California during that time period. Contributions of Chinese immigrants to commerce and business, architecture and art, agriculture and other industries are described. Chinatown in San Francisco receives special treatment as the oldest and largest community of Chinese in the U.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.

Students view photos of Father Serra and his living quarters at Mission Carmel and use their senses to create a speech.

Prior knowledge about Father Serra is required - text book, websites, articles, etc.