History and Genealogy Collections

  • Post card view of the Tower Theater on Fourth Street, Santa Rosa

Local History Collections

  • Local history in the library catalog:  a comprehensive collection of Sonoma County historical works, county, family, and property histories

  • Sonoma County photograph collection: over 40,000 photographs, many of which are available online as part of the Sonoma County Local History & Culture

  • Sonoma County Archives: many of Sonoma County’s earliest court, naturalization and tax records

  • The Sonoma County History Index which has thousands of references to County events, places and people

  • Sonoma County newspapers on microfilm from the 1850s-2000s, including Santa Rosa (1857 through 1969) and Petaluma (1855, incas well as other county newspapers for various locations and dates

  • Local history newspaper clipping file

  • The California Indian Library Collection

  • Select California city directories and voter registrations

  • Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

  • Indexes to local cemetery, marriage, birth, death and militia records

Genealogy Collections

  • Genealogy in the library catalog: several thousand genealogical books and journals covering world-wide genealogical research. 

  • Local genealogical resources include those listed above