It’s no King Tut’s tomb, but the History Room at the Berkeley Public Library is worth a look. Due to budget cuts you need an appointment to visit the room, but the library staff let me take these photos so you can get a preview (they want to publicize it). Scroll down for high-res images of the shelves.

2016-11-02-14-43-22-copy-2

These doors were made by a local woodworker when the library was renovated in 2002.

img_4757

The room is full of great furniture, maps, and Berkeley-related photos. Plus many large file cabinets full of Berkeley-related news clippings.

2016-11-02-14-34-47

Below are photos of all the shelves – click on any image to enlarge.

2016-11-02-14-10-02

Boards and commissions

2016-11-02-14-11-32

Community

2016-11-02-14-10-53

Waterfront, hospitals, homeless

2016-11-02-14-13-41

City budgets and government stats

2016-11-02-14-12-28

Planning and development

2016-11-02-14-13-07

Schools etc.

2016-11-02-14-14-36

School Yearbooks

2016-11-02-14-15-47

2016-11-02-14-16-07

2016-11-02-14-16-45

The University

2016-11-02-14-17-11

2016-11-02-14-19-48

2016-11-02-14-17-33

2016-11-02-14-18-38

2016-11-02-14-20-33

2016-11-02-14-18-45

Trains, streetcars, slang, science

2016-11-02-14-20-55

Berkeley-related cookbooks

2016-11-02-14-22-00

2016-11-02-14-23-22

Heritage and history

2016-11-02-14-22-45

Berkeley-related poetry

2016-11-02-14-24-03

Business directories

2016-11-02-14-24-57

2016-11-02-14-25-24

2016-11-02-14-25-36

2016-11-02-14-26-19

Novels

2016-11-02-14-26-00

Newsletters

2016-11-02-14-26-51

2016-11-02-14-26-37

Phone books

2016-11-02-14-27-42

2016-11-02-14-27-59

2016-11-02-14-28-21

Nonfiction

2016-11-02-14-28-48

2016-11-02-14-29-07

2016-11-02-14-29-54

Protest, change and pictoral history

2016-11-02-14-30-26

Barb and Tribe

2016-11-02-14-31-05

2016-11-02-14-31-50

Cards and maps

2016-11-02-14-35-19

And finally, behind glass doors – this is a large collection of Berkeley related ephemera sold to the library by a collector named Swingle. Unclear how much of it has yet been looked through and catalogued.

2016-11-02-14-34-29

P.S. And one last item… the original plaque from the 1905 library building, funded by Andrew Carnegie on land donated by Shattuck’s widow Rosa:

2016-11-02-14-33-29

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *