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Community History Links

Special thanks to supporters of community history, The William E Simon Foundation, who have helped to fund this site in 2010 and 2011.

Dozens of efforts are underway to provide access to the history of San Francisco on the web.

Here are some of the more useful sites we've discovered (thanks to Ron Henggeler for a number of these).

Please write us with your url if you have something that should be on this list.


Primary resources:

San Francisco Museum & Historical Society Our collaborating partner on this wiki

Shaping San Francisco Talks: online archive

Shaping San Francisco upcoming Bicycle History Tours

Thinkwalks on foot and bike with Joel Pomerantz

The Photo Archives at the History Center

San Francisco Library History Center

Online Archive of California

San Francisco City Guides--Neighborhood historical walking tours

Museum of the City of San Francisco (particularly the '06 quake and fire dept.)

David Rumsey Map collection, 1859 US Coastal Survey Map geosynchronized with Google Maps!

San Francisco Historical Maps

San Francisco Geneology

San Francisco Architectural Heritage

San Francisco Maritime Museum - J. Porter Shaw Library

Maritime Museum National Park--Maritime History

Internet Archive

Prelinger Archives

San Francisco Media Archive

History of Bay Area radio

SFSU American Poetry Archives An historic register of the past 50 years of poetry and related writing as it happened in San Francisco



Specific Neighborhoods, Areas, or Neighborhood Historical Associations

Western Neighborhoods

Telegraph Hill Dwellers

Bernal Heights history

The Uptown Tenderloin Historic District

Mt. Davidson and its Historic Neighborhoods

San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury history

The Historic Shipyard at Pier 70

Islais Creek

Potrero Hill Archives Project

Bayview History Preservation Project

Presidio History

California Missions: Mission Dolores

San Francisco Garden Registry: A Survey of Urban Food Production Zones

San Francisco History Association


Specific Groups

GLBT Historical Society

Muwekma Ohlone Tribe Information

Thomas Fleming on Black History

California's (and San Francisco's) business and management history


Curious and Entertaining Local History Sites

Burrito Justice, one of the best local bloggers, full of history and sharp insights

San Francisco History Podcasts from Sparkletack

Bill Roddy's America Hurrah!

Kenneth Rexroth's San Francisco

Memories of San Francisco

Who's Who of "Haight Ashbury Era"

1915 Exposition Fair

Malcolm Barker's San Francisco Memoirs

San Francisco Cable Cars

California Landmarks: San Francisco

Hank Donat's Mister SF

Thomas Bachand's 360 degree animation of San Francisco in 1851

The Barbary Coast trail

Anchor Steam- Telegraph Hill

Digging in downtown SF c. 1978