Selected historical societies, museums, and parks are listed below.
More information is available on the Sonoma County Historical Society website.
Historical Societies and Museums
- Cloverdale Historical Society and Museum
- Museum hours, Citrus Fair history and photos, calendar of events.
Fort Ross- Information on the history of Fort Ross State Historic Park and camping there today.
Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society- The Museum's archive of maps, photos, documents, and other materials is available for historical research. The website includes museum hours and exhibit information.
Luther Burbank Home and Gardens- Information on Burbank, his legacy and his home.
Petaluma Museum and Historical Society- Exhibit information, research library, weekend tours. The Museum occupies the former Carnegie Library, designed in 1903 and featuring the largest free-standing dome of stained glass in California.
Russian River Historical Society- Searchable photo archives, events, family stories about River history. Formerly the Monte Rio Historical Society, but has expanded its area of coverage.
Sonoma County Historical Society- News on preservation of historic structures; awards program, publications, calendar of meetings, field trips, and other events.
Sonoma County Museum- Located inside the beautifully restored 1909 Post Office Federal Building, the Museum enhances the cultural life of Sonoma County by honoring its cultural and historical heritage.
Western Sonoma County Historical Society- Information on Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Farm, the West County Museum, and other projects. Tour information.
Other Sonoma County History resources
- Sonoma County Local History & Culture
- Albums of photographs, maps, postcards, and more from the collections of the Library, the Sonoma County Archives, and the Sonoma County Fair.
Sonoma County Local History & Genealogy blog- Highlights of our collections of photographs and postcards, with historical notes.
North Bay Digital- Online collection from Sonoma State University features the Gaye LeBaron Digital Collection, Environmental History collection, Lime Kiln photos, 1906 earthquake photos and letters.
Sonoma County Historical Records Commission- Information on the annual Peterson Prize for essays and manuscripts on Sonoma County history and culture. Publications for sale or downloadable from the website, such as indexes of wills and County records, and guides to researching buildings and evaluating archival records.
History of Cotati- Timeline and photos of Cotati from the 19th century to today. Sponsored by the City of Cotati and the Cotati Chamber of Commerce.
The Jack London Collection- contains a short biography of John Griffiths London by Dr. Clarice Stasz of Sonoma State University; photographs of Jack London, his family, friends, and the places in which he lived, worked, and traveled; letters, postcards, telegrams, manuscripts, official documents, and other papers relating to his life and work; a growing archive of full-length novels, shorts stories, essays, and newspaper pieces by Jack London; links to other interesting web sites with Jack London content or other materials of interest to London scholars; and more.
California History Resources on the Web
- California Historical Society
- Featuring online exhibitions, California History Online, and a directory of museums and historical societies, which you can view county-by-county or search by keyword.
Historic American Newspapers- Full page images of California and other newspapers from the 1800s and early 1900s. From the digital newspaper program of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Folklife in Your State: California- Photographs, sound recordings, and lists of resources, from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Online Archive of California- Materials from dozens of museums, libraries, and archives in California. As of 2005, over 120,000 images; 50,000 pages of documents, letters, and oral histories; and 8,000 guides to collections are available.
California Heritage Collection- An online archive of more than 30,000 images illustrating California's history and culture, from the collections of the Bancroft Library. Part of the Online Archive of California.
Melvyl Catalog- The World Wide Web interface to the online catalog of the University of California and the California State Library which contains the holdings of the Sutro Library, one of the best genealogical libraries in the world.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)- The National Archives facility in San Bruno
contains Federal records starting from the
1850s. It is open to the public and also accepts research requests via phone
and e-mail. To search
the National Archives Archival
Research Catalog for materials there, select the Advanced Search, click "Location of
Archival Materials" and select only "NARA's Pacific Region
(San Bruno)."
See also the general information on searching the National Archives.
