
Founded in 1951, CCCHS is a Historical document research archive for Contra Costa County. We preserve Historical documents dating to before statehood in 1850. They include:
• Court Documents: We have court documents going back to 1848, and we are the official County repository of superior court records up to and including 1911.
• Library: We have an extensive library of books, journals, magazines, pamphlets, and studies, relating to the history of our County and California. Both primary and secondary sources are represented.
• Maps: We have over 1100 maps of all sizes and types, dating from 1775 to the 1990s.
• Naturalization Cases: The archive holds a unique collection of 99 volumes containing 12,646 separate records. If your ancestors became U.S. citizens in CCC we have those original records.
• Newspapers: Our newspaper collection is huge and diverse, over 160 separate publications being represented. Some have been digitized and are searchable.
• Photographs: At present, we have around 20,000 images that have been scanned and are available as digital files. This number represents perhaps one-fifth of our total collection of prints, negatives, and slides, which date from the latter part of the nineteenth century to the present day.
• Veale Collection: Richard R. Veale was sheriff of Contra Costa County from 1895 to 1935. He served with distinction and became one of the best-known and respected peace officers in California. An entire room in the History Center is set aside for the Veale collection, consisting of over 70,000 separate items.
• Special Collections: A catchall grouping of highly varied documents from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Our historical archive is by far the largest in Contra Costa County. If you are doing historical research of any kind, this is the place to start. So, drop in and see what we have to offer, individual and group tours are available. Our funding comes from numerous sources, including membership dues, grants, and County funding. We are a nonprofit 501(c)(3) located at 724 Escobar Street, Martinez, CA 94553. (925) 229-1042. We are open 9AM to 4PM on Tues
day, Wednesday, Thursday and 10AM to 2PM, the first and third Saturdays of the month.
cocohistory.org
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