RESEARCH
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RESEARCH ROOM
Our research room is located in the Toney Archive. It is open to the public for walk-ins Thursday - Saturday 1 - 4 p.m., and by appointment Monday - Saturday. Our friendly docents are available to assist you with your research needs. A wide variety of resources are available in the research room and we are continuously adding new resources and we continue to catalog our collection. Here is what is available right now:
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Reference Collection items: A variety of local history books; compiled research on historic buildings, businesses, and institutions in Ukiah; Mendocino County directories; a selection of Mendocino County journals, magazines, publications, and yearbooks; resources on Mendocino County government; historic obituaries; research on Mendocino County cemeteries; resources on Ukiah city government; Indigenous Peoples of Mendocino County censuses; and family genealogy files (available upon request).
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Microfilm available upon request: Russian River Cemetery District Index to Burials (up to 1990); California Death Index (1905 - 1939); Office of Indian Affairs - California Superintendency letters (1840s - 1880s), documents pertaining to Fort/Camp Wright; Mendocino County Great Registers; Mendocino County probate, naturalization, death, marriage, and birth records; John Husdson's Field Notebooks; Mendocino County Board of Supervisor's Minutes (1859 - 1986); Mendocino County newspapers.
Special Collections digitized and available in the research room: The Historical Society of Mendocino County Newsletters and Journals, Mendocino County tax assessment rolls (1870s - 1920s so far); Mendocino County delinquent tax assessment rolls (1870s - 1920 so far); Mendocino County Great Registers(1860s - 1912); Ukiah fire insurance maps (1888 - 1950); a portion of our historic Mendocino County newspapers.
The rest of our extensive collection (not yet catalogued) can be accessed by setting up a research appointment with HSMC staff.
If you have any questions about what is available in the research room please feel free to reach out to us.
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SPECIAL COLLECTION ACCESS
The HSMC has a large collection of various county, city and town records for Mendocino County, as well as personal collections, photographs, newspapers, oral histories, maps, art and documents pertaining to the social, political, geographic, and cultural history of Mendocino County. In addition to the records above, some of the HSMC's highlighted collections include: the Edith Van Allen Murphey Collection; the Mendocino State Hospital Collection; the Promise of Paradise: Back to the Land Oral Histories Collection; the Mary Branson March, Frank and Polly Branson Collection (Pomo Baskets); the Carl Purdy Collection.
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The HSMC is currently cataloging and digitizing our collection from the ground up. As we get records cataloged and digitized, we will be making those files available in our research room and adding the records to our online database. This process will take many years, so if you don't see an item in our research room, or on our online database, we still encourage you to reach out to us to check if we have an item that hasn't been cataloged yet.
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We are happy to facilitate access to all records in our collection! We offer two options: have HSMC staff perform the research for you and provide the results through email or by mail, or submit a request (by email or through our website) to view the records in-person in our research room.
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RESEARCH SERVICES
Need help with your research? Can't make it to our archive? Need to access something in our special collection? The HSMC offers research services online and on-site by appointment! Our knowledgeable staff can research your topic within the HSMC collection for you. We can provide the results of our research through email, by mail, or in-person. To submit a request please email, call, or contact us through our website.
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Click below to view our fee schedule: