The HSMC houses 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, the 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. 

 

Items in our collection are available for personal use and commercial use in films, books, articles, and other media.

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In addition to our special collections, the HSMC maintains a large reference collection filled with compiled research and books on various topics within Mendocino County which are available to the public in our research room. 

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The HSMC is currently cataloging and digitizing our collection from the ground up. Digitization has multiple benefits. Using digital copies of our special collections for reference and research allows us to handle these fragile items less, greatly prolonging their life. It increases the efficiency of research as well as the accessibility of our collection. As we get items cataloged and digitized, we will be making those files available in our research room and adding the items 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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