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California Studies

This is a guide developed to help students working on California research topics

Digital Research Resources for California Studies

  • California State Archives
    Overview of collections that document the broad scope of California government and its impact on the people of the state.

  • California Historical Society
    An overview of the CHS collection, which aims to represent the social, political, economic, industrial, agricultural, technological, and cultural heritage of the entire state. 

  • David Rumsey Map Collection
    Provides online access to over 24,000 maps and images with a focus on 18th and 19th century maps of North America and South America. Includes historic maps of Los Angeles, California, and American regions.  

  • Preservation Organizations and Historical Societies
    A list maintained by the Los Angeles Conservancy of historical societies for local, statewide, and national municipalities.

  • The Southern California Library
    A people's library dedicated to documenting and preserving the histories of communities in struggle for justice.  The library is open to the public and located in the West Adams neighborhood.

Finding Online Materials in California Archives

The Online Archive of California (OAC) is a searchable database that includes finding aids for archival and primary source collections at more than 200 libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums in California, including Special Collections & Archives in the Oviatt at CSUN.

After searching, you can limit your search results by holding institution, so you can see everything on your topic at other repositories in Los Angeles (including CSUN, UCLA, Occidental, Loyola Marymount, etc.) that have contributed finding aids to the OAC.

online archive of california

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