Books & Print materials

Approximately 8500 books, documents & periodicals focus primarily
on Marin County and the San Francisco Bay Area, and also include
California as a whole.
Search for materials on California and Marin in the Library's MARINet catalog.

Clipping Files

Organized into approximately 200 subject categories,
all pertaining to Marin County.
Topics covered in this collection can be found in the Library's MARINet catalog.
 

Oral Histories

Our ongoing oral history program was started in 1974 by Anne Kent and Carla Ehat,
and the archive now includes approximately 400 interviews.
All are listed in the MARINet catalog.
Some of the transcripts are available online through our Digital Archive.

Photographs

Over 9,000 photographs document Marin County
and Northern California, c.1870 – c.1975.
Some of these photographs can be viewed on our Digital Archive.

Biography Files

Extensive biography files contain information and obituaries
on Marin County residents including pioneers, politicians,
authors and artists.

Marin County Directories

Business directories and phone books range from 1878 – present.

San Francisco Directories

Business directories and phone books range from 1861 – 1977.

Marin County Voter Registers

Marin County Voter Register affidavits range from 1908 – 1935.
The voter register indexes cover the period 1868 – 1932.

Maps

Over 500 historical maps of Marin County and 200 of California.

An interactive Marin County Rancho map is available on our Digital Archive.

Ancestry.com Library Edition

The Library Edition of Ancestry.com, available at the Civic Center Branch and in the Anne T. Kent California Room, is a powerful database which includes census records, birth, marriage & death records, military records and other resources for genealogical research.

Document Collection

Primary source materials on a wide variety of subjects,
all pertaining to Marin County.

Historic Homes in Marin

Junior League of San Francisco survey
In 1968, the Junior League of San Francisco published:  Here Today: San Francisco’s Architectural Heritage. It includes a chapter on Marin County with a description of historic homes.  Our collection consists of their work sheets documenting approximately 440 Marin homes & buildings.

Historic Inventory of Homes & Buildings in California
In 1977, The State Department of Parks and Recreation conducted a “Historic Resources Inventory of Homes and Buildings in California.” Our collection consists of their inventory sheets documenting approximately 300 structures in Marin

The Dr. Leo Stanley Collection on San Quentin Prison

Consists of personal journals, travel diaries, prison records, clippings, medical papers,
photographs and ephemera on the history of San Quentin Prison.
Dr. Stanley was the prison doctor at San Quentin Prison from 1913 to 1951.
Some photographs from this collection are available on our Digital Archive.

The Stinson Family Collection

Papers focus on the family’s property holdings at Bolinas and Stinson Beach.
Photograph albums depict family activities at Stinson Beach and elsewhere.
A further description of this collection can be found in the Library's MARINet catalog

The Kent Family Collection

Photographs & ephemera pertaining to the Kent Family who settled in Marin County in 1871 and who had extensive land holdings in the Ross Valley (Kentfield) and the Mt. Tamalpais area. Also, papers and writings of Congressman, William Kent, and his wife, Elizabeth Thatcher Kent. Materials from this collection are available in the following digital collections:

• Kentfield - Kent Family Collection
• Kentfield May Day
• Muir Woods

Frank Lloyd Wright & The Marin County Civic Center

Books, documents and photographs on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright,
with a special emphasis on the Marin County Civic Center.
Some materials are available on our Digital Archive.

Mountain Play Collection

The first six decades of the Mountain Plays (1913-1972) performed in
the outdoor amphitheater on Mt. Tamalpais are well documented in the
Mountain Play Association scrapbooks which include photographs,
play programs, clippings and ephemera.
Some materials from these scrapbooks are available on our Digital Archive.

WPA Archive

Several hundred essays expounding on multiple facets of Marin County life and history
written and compiled by members of the Federal Writers Project of the WPA, c.1936.
The WPA also assembled clipping files, organized by subject, from Marin County newspapers, c.1861-1939.

Local Newspapers (at the Civic Center Branch)

The main newspaper for Marin County is the Marin Independent Journal (and its
predecessors, the Marin County Journal and the San Rafael Independent), 1861-present.

Click on the links below to see the holdings for these and other local papers.
 

Marin Independent Journal

Marin County Journal

San Rafael Independent

Alta California (1858, only)

The Ark (Tiburon)

Fairfax Gazette

The Fax (Fairfax)

Larkspur-Corte Madera News

Twin Cities Times (Larkspur & Corte Madera)

Marin County Tocsin (Marin County)

Mill Valley Independent

Mill Valley Record

Novato Advance

Pacific Sun (Marin County)

Point Reyes Light

Ross Valley Reporter

Marin Herald

San Anselmo Herald

San Rafael/Terra Linda News Pointer

Tomales Bay Times

West Marin Star