The Sacramento Room is a place where we collect and preserve Sacramento’s history. Our special collections are housed in the original reference room of the 1918 Carnegie City Library at Central Library.
Sacramento Archives Crawl 2023 (October 7 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Central Library)
Join us for the 13th annual Sacramento Archives Crawl as Sacramento's four primary archival repositories - the Sacramento Room, the California State Archives, the California State Library, and the Center for Sacramento History - open their doors to the general public, availing all who attend to their inner workings and a choice view of manuscripts and artifacts that relate to this year's theme, "Myth, Folklore, and Legend." A shuttle bus will take "crawlers" between locations and prizes will be awarded to winners of both the crawl's scavenger hunt and our standard raffle, set to be held at Central Library. The event is free and full of fun!
Room Access
A simple set of rules has been implemented to research the room.
Review the rules and learn about photocopy and digital scan procedures. See updated
hours of operation.
Digital Collections
Full and open access to digital images of photographs, periodicals, ephemera, yearbooks and directories.
Sacramento Collection
Books, periodicals, maps, ephemera, postcards and photographs documenting more than 150 years of Sacramento County’s social, cultural, religious and political history.
Special Collection
Rare books that have been removed from general circulation over the years for preservation purposes, but are of continuing value and interest. This collection contains first editions, items with notable illustrations, and many volumes that have been part of the Library collection since 1879.
Archives
Records of enduring value, including architectural blueprints, accession books, reports, scrapbooks, photographs, book catalogs, policies and procedures and public relations material chronicling Library history back to 1857.
Digital Sanborn Maps
Research local history with city plans and maps dating from 1867-1970.
California Collection
Encompasses the history of the state with emphasis on Northern California. The collection features in-depth county histories, biographies of prominent figures in all aspects of California history, and information on the natural, cultural and social history of the state.
Printing and Book Arts History Collection
Depicts the history of books, including printing, binding, papermaking, type design and illustration. This collection has many examples of printing by fine presses throughout the world.
Sacramento Area Authors Collection
Includes books published by authors who have close ties to the Sacramento area.
Sacramento Musicians and Songwriters Collection
Includes published recordings by local musicians and sheet music by local composers and lyricists.
Pamphlet Files
File folders containing news clippings and short articles on hundreds of local history topics.