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California Announces New State Archives Collections

Researchers now have easier and faster access to information about eight California State Archives collections.

Photo: California State Archives Building

The newly processed collections include records from:

  • The Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee (1980-2004),
  • The Assembly Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security Committee (1969-2000), 
  • State Senator Deirdre Alpert (served in Legislature 1990-2004),
  • Assemblyman Charles Bader (served in Legislature 1983-1990),
  • State Senator Bill Craven (served in Legislature 1974-1998),
  • The Senate Rules Committee, Office of Senate Floor Analyses (1985-2000),
  • The Senate Republican Fiscal Office (1999-2006), and
  • The Senate Public Safety Committee (1997-2006).
The Secretary of State's office has been home to the State Archives since 1850. As custodian of the State Archives, Secretary Bowen maintains the complete records of the official acts of the legislative and executive branches of state government, as well as Golden State history in the form of tens of millions of documents, maps, photographs, film and audio recordings, and artifacts. Among the treasures housed in secure, climate-controlled rooms stretching over six floors of the state archives' Sacramento building are the original California Constitutions; Spanish and Mexican land grant records; election records dating back to 1849; political campaign items; and evidence, tapes, and photographs from the Los Angeles Police Department investigation of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination.

The California State Archives continually organizes the materials it receives and creates detailed guides to collections known as "finding aids" that make researching easier. For more information about the California State Archives collections, or for assistance on a historical research project, visit the archives web site.

Finding aids for the recently processed collections are available on the Online Archive of California, a single digital database of finding aids that provides information about materials held in archives, libraries, museums, and historical societies across California.