While McHenry holds indices for various area newspapers from 1856-1956—and the Santa Cruz Public Library additionally has a 1957-8 volume—there are obviously many gaps in indexing not covered by bound volumes, the Sentinel's Web site, or SCPL's Newspaper Clipping File.
None other than Stan Stevens suggests contacting the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County (publishers of the existing indices) for those years not obviously indexed, as they continue their work of indexing local newspapers.
Showing posts with label local history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local history. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Phone books
Laura's recent post on pay phones pushed the notion of phones to the front of my reference brain so my attention was quickly captured by Leah Garchik's December 13th column in the San Francisco Chronicle highlighting a unique reference work:
In his new "The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads," historian Ammon Shea writes that for a few decades at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th, there was a hand-lettered Chinese phone book in San Francisco. This was for Chinese customers of Pacific Bell who used the only foreign-language phone exchange in the country.
Chinatown's first phone, in a Bush Street office, was in operation in the 1880s, and was much used by "farmers selling produce or looking for laborers." Beginning in 1890, residents had access to a public phone in the offices of a Chinese-language newspaper. By 1894, a Chinatown switchboard linked 37 phones; in 1898, they became part of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph.
Because Chinese characters are based on ideas rather than letters, the "directory" system was not alphabetic, and most operators would spend a great deal of their first months on the job trying to memorize phone numbers.
UCSC doesn't have The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book that Everyone Used but No One Reads, but the section describing this distinctive San Francisco phone directory in more detail is included in the Google Books preview here.
In his new "The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads," historian Ammon Shea writes that for a few decades at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th, there was a hand-lettered Chinese phone book in San Francisco. This was for Chinese customers of Pacific Bell who used the only foreign-language phone exchange in the country.
Chinatown's first phone, in a Bush Street office, was in operation in the 1880s, and was much used by "farmers selling produce or looking for laborers." Beginning in 1890, residents had access to a public phone in the offices of a Chinese-language newspaper. By 1894, a Chinatown switchboard linked 37 phones; in 1898, they became part of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph.
Because Chinese characters are based on ideas rather than letters, the "directory" system was not alphabetic, and most operators would spend a great deal of their first months on the job trying to memorize phone numbers.
While Santa Cruz may not have such a distinctive history of telephone directories our Special Collections Department does have a small collection of phone directories from as far back as 1918. The collection is in NRLF and more details about its scope can be found here.
Other historical directories more readily available include Polk and Haines directories which can be found in Cruzcat. A detailed list of historical collections of local telephone directories held in various repositories throughout the county can be found on page 65 of Every Structure Tells a Story: How to Research the History of a Property in Santa Cruz County.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Regional History June 28th-July 11th
Irene Reti will be on furlough and vacation from June 28th-July 11th.
Regional History will be closed during this time. Please contact Christine Bunting or staff in Special Collections if there is an emergency.
Regional History will be closed during this time. Please contact Christine Bunting or staff in Special Collections if there is an emergency.
Friday, October 30, 2009
San Francisco City Directories - now online - free
Subject: [calix] San Francisco City Directories - Now online - free
San Francisco City Directories are now online - free - Here are the direct links:
San Francisco City Directories
1923. http://www.archive.org/details/crockerlangleysa1923rlporich
1924. http://www.archive.org/details/crockerlangleysa1924rlporich
1927. http://www.archive.org/details/crockerlangleysa1927rlporich
1924. http://www.archive.org/details/crockerlangleysa1924rlporich
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