Library Guides: History of City Planning: Other Resources

Biographies

The biographies of planners can be rich sources of information about the history of a particular period or event in planning.

American planner: biographies & recollections. Donald A. Krueckeberg, ed. 2nd ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research, 1994. Biographies of leading American city and regional planners, 1890-1980.
Biographical information for city planners. (UC Berkeley, Library) A guide to resources and strategies for locating biographical information about city planners.

Campus Libraries

The following campus libraries have rich collections that support city planning history research.

Archives

Archives, historical societies, and local libraries can be excellent sources of primary research materials in city planning and urban history. Most state libraries also maintain archival collections of public and other records. To locate materials located in libraries not listed in the Find it at UC catalog, use WorldCat on FirstSearch and limit search results to Archival Materials'.

Architectural Archives This link opens in a new window
Carnegie Mellon Univ. Directory of links to architectural archives web sites in the United States. Remember that architecture collections often include city planning, urban design, and landscape architecture materials.
Also includes a selected list of research guides and projects on architectural history.
Archive Finder (including ArchivesUSA and NIDS UK/Ireland) This link opens in a new window
Directory describing primary source material. (Archives USA)
Describes tens of thousands of collections of primary source material housed in thousands of repositories across the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive coverage of nineteenth-century books, periodicals, official documents, newspapers and archives. (19th Century Index) [1800 - 1899]
C19 Index draws on the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, The Wellesley Index, Poole's Index and Periodicals Index Online to create integrated bibliographic coverage of over 1.4 million books and official publications, 64,891 archival collections and 15.6 million articles published in over 2,500 journals, magazines and newspapers.

The California Heritage Collection
One of many searchable archives containing photographs, pictures, and manuscripts from the collections of the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library, including many historical images of San Francisco Bay Area places.
Guide to federal records in the National Archives of the United States
The most comprehensive guide to NARA's holdings. The Web version based on the 1995 print edition and is regularly updated.
Minerva online catalog
California State Archives. Descriptive catalog of the archival records of California state agencies, legislative committees, the state Supreme and appellate courts, etc.
Municipal archives
Municipal archives can be a fabulous source of primary research material. Many cities, counties, etc., maintain archives of historical municipal records, ranging from meeting and office records to maps, vital records, photographs, plans, parks and recreation planning, and much more. These archives are managed in diverse ways: as a separate department, as a function within an individual department, as part of the public library, etc. Search H-Urban discussion logs for "municipal archives" for a sampling of the type and quality of municipal archives available.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Access to US Federal records and documents that capture the sweep of the past, including slave ship manifests, journals of polar expeditions, and photographs of Dust Bowl farmers.
NARA Archives Online Public Access Portal
The NARA Online Public Access site provides access to several records archives, including the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), Access to Archival Databases (AAD), Archives.gov, and the Electronic Records Archive (ERA). The ARC catalog searches on 126,500 digitized documents, photos, and images from the NARA holdings. The AAD is a a database of over 3,400 microfilm records.

Online Archive of California (OAC) This link opens in a new window
Access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California including the 10 UC campuses.
A searchable and browseable resource that brings together historical materials from a variety of California institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives. Contains over 120,000 images; 50,000 pages of documents, letters, and oral histories; and 8,000 guides to collections. Images are organized into thematic and institutional collections, such as historical topics, nature, places, and technology.

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History of City Planning: Other Resources

Special Collections

Biographies

Campus Libraries

Archives