:: Local History Collections
The Library has been collecting Local History materials since the 1890s and has a very extensive local history holdings with original materials dating from the 1870s. The collection includes:
- Topics: Resources on many aspects of Riverside County history, including: early history, Native Americans of Inland Southern California, Spanish and Mexican land grants, citrus and date industries, natural history and local wildlife, government, biography, and bibliography.
- Over 5000 catalogued volumes. Be sure to search our catalog.
- More than 600 historical maps
- More than 4,000 historical photographs and postcards
- A very large local history pamphlet and clipping collection
- Special historical collections such as citrus labels, menus, postcards, music scores, high school and college annuals
- Architectural drawings
- Camp Anza collection
- Local government publications
- Local periodicals and newspapers as well as periodicals of regional interest, including The Press-Enterprise, Inland Empire Magazine, Southern California Quarterly, Journal of the Riverside Historical Society, The Citrograph, and Desert Magazine.
- City and County Directories dating from 1889 to 1969. Criss-Cross directories dating from 1971 to present. Telephone directories from 1911 to the present.
- Finding aids to a variety of collections, including an index to Tom Patterson's "Out of the County's Past" column, indices to local newspapers, a special editions index, as well as indices to books and finding aids for archival and manuscript collections.