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Sarah Winchester at History San JosÉ

Sarah Winchester at History San JoseThe History San Jose Research Library & Archives houses the following primary sources on the topic of Sarah Winchester and her properties, including the “Winchester Mystery House.” All of these documents and photographs have been scanned, and are available through our online catalog.

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The KNTV Channel 11 News Archive at History San JosÉ

In 1983, 119 boxes of approximately 4,700 local news film (16mm) reels, shot between 1965 and 1980, were donated to the San José Historical Museum by the controller of local station KNTV Channel 11. They include black-and-white and color footage, and are accompanied by newscast scripts and film storage logs. Unfortunately, the films between 1970 and 1975 were not part of the donation and are presumed lost to time.

LINK TO ARCHIVE

Library Resources for in-person browsing:

Changing Boundaries documentary interview transcripts (2014)

Yellow and White pages for Santa Clara County (1905-2018)

Aerial surveys of San Jose (1960s) – available through our online catalog and the Internet Archive

Local Historical Surveys and Reports: Searchable in our online catalog

Biographical Clippings Index and Family History Files

Subject Clippings Index

City of San Jose Annual Budgets (1947-1965)

City of San Jose Auditor’s Annual Reports (1950-1968)

Business Cards: Collection of business cards from Santa Clara County, filed alphabetically by company name or individual

Periodicals & newsletters published locally or of local interest, arranged by subject. Please inquire for specific titles.

Trade Catalogs and Manuals

“When San Jose Was Young”: Mercury News column documenting events from San Jose’s past between 1841-1870

City of San Jose Tax Assessor’s Photographs: Black & white snapshots dating to the 1930s-1950s, organized by street name/number. Most of these have been scanned and cataloged in our online catalog under accession number 1997-251.

Jack Douglas Reference Files: Author, SJSU professor, and local historian Jack Douglas’s reference files on local properties and people.

Postcard Collection: Organized by subject. All cataloged and searchable in our online catalog.

Bench & Bar Historical Society of Santa Clara County oral history transcripts (Originals are held at the Santa Clara County Law Library; the University of Santa Clara Library and HSJ both have copies)

Obituaries Index (1879-1912): Alphabetical card index listing date of obituary and newspaper. Newspapers indexed include the San Jose Daily Morning Times, San Jose Evening News, San Jose Daily News, San Jose (Daily) Herald, and the San Jose Mercury.

Photograph Collection: Reference prints of the museum’s original historic photo collection, arranged by subject. This is a small sub-set of the entire photograph collection; all have been cataloged and scanned, and can be searched in our online catalog under Accession No. 1997-300

Yearbooks and School Newspapers: Fairly complete run of San Jose High School and San Jose State yearbooks, and yearbooks from other local colleges, high schools, and junior high schools. Please inquire about specific years/issues.

City Directories (1870-1979): City Directories list the names of individuals living in San Jose and selected areas of Santa Clara County along with their place of residence and occupation. In 1914, a street address index was added, enabling you to track owners over time