The Special Collections Research Center maintains several thousand photographs from daguerreotypes to modern snapshots. These images are listed below within their individual collections. All copyright laws are enforced and permission to use any image from our collection in a publication, exhibit, television/cable broadcast, multimedia production, or web site should be obtained before taking any action. Reproductions can be made for a fee.
June English Collection, (15 linear feet and 102 photographs)
Books, typescripts, research notes, newspaper clippings, oral history tapes and transcripts, maps and photographs relating to the history of Fresno and Madera Counties and the adjacent Sierra Nevada Mountains, ca. 1850 to 1984.
June English Forestry Collection, (ca. 13 linear feet and 144 photographs)
A comprehensive index and collection of periodical articles, newspaper clippings, and oral history interviews relating to the history of the Sierra National Forest, 1870 to mid-1980s.
Hammer Field Photograph Collection
Hammer Field was the site of a World War II Army Air Corps base. It is now
the Fresno Air Terminal.
Japanese Americans in World War II Collection, 1920-1995, bulk 1942-1944 (1 linear foot). Newsletters produced in internment camps, pamphlets and newspapers, relating the experiences of Japanese American internees during World War II, especially in the San Joaquin Valley. Also includes official documents issued by the U.S. government declaring the official stance. The Japanese Americans in World War II photographs can be accessed online through our San Joaquin Valley Japanese Americans in World War II digital collection.
Kneeland Family Papers, 1820-1961 (7.75 linear feet)
Letters, diaries and other materials relating to Socialism, the Kneeland Family and their life on Black Mountain near Prather, California after they left the Topolobampo Colony in Mexico. Much material on the flora and fauna of the area.
John Lewis Collection, (2.5 linear feet and ca. 50 photographs, 1930s-1980s)
Research materials for an unpublished manuscript on the history of the U.S. Forest Service in the Sierra National Forest. Includes correspondence between Lewis and Walter J. Puhn, a former Sierra National Forest Supervisor.
McLane/Harris Family Papers,1865-1963 (4.25 linear feet)
Diaries, letters, scrapbooks and photographs from the McLane, Best, Harris, and Boggs families in Fresno. Includes documents from Charles L. McLane, CSUF’s first president.
Harry Pidgeon Collection, [bulk 1907-1915] (3.75 linear feet)
Photographic archive of photographer Harry Pidgeon documenting the lumbering activities of the Sugar Pine area, Madera County, and the social life of the lumbermen. The Harry Pidgeon photos are available online through our Harry Pidgeon ecollection.
Basil Prior Papers, 1894-1956, 1979-1980 (5 linear feet)
Comprised mostly of diaries, account books and photographs, this collection documents the day-to-day management of Basil Prior’s citrus farm, Las Palms Ranch, in Lindsay, California from the 1890s to the 1950s.Harold G. Schutt Collection, 1846-1994 (25 linear feet and ca. 2500 photographs)
Letters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and photographs relating to the history of Tulare County with emphasis on the town of Lindsay, the Lindsay Ripe Olive Company and the olive industry, as well as lumbering in the Sequoia National Forest, ca. 1870 to 1975.
TOMO Foundation Collection, 1942-1944 (9 linear inches).
Newsletters and circulars produced in World War II Japanese internment camps and assembly centers in California, Colorado, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming. Includes sixty-three official photographs of Japanese Americans in camps and other locations, commissioned by the War Relocation Authority. The TOMO Foundation photographs can be accessed online through our San Joaquin Valley Japanese Americans in World War II digital collection
Topolobampo Collection, 1836-1979 (44.75 linear feet) Records of the Credit Foncier of Sinaloa Company and its failed utopian colony at Topolobampo Bay in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico in the late nineteenth century. Also includes the business records and personal papers of Albert Kimsey Owen (1847-1916), the colony’s founder. There are more than 500 photographs taken at Topolobampo by the colony’s official photographer, Ira Kneeland.
University Archives
A collection of thousands of photographs of campus buildings and events as well as students, faculty and staff. The photographs are not individually listed but are categorized by broad subject groupings.
Woodward Photograph Collection
This collection contains over 1500 photographs, slides and negatives
featuring Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley.
Woodward Postcard Collection
This collection contains over 400 postcards and includes many scenes in Fresno and some towns in Fresno County as well as in Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Stanislaus and Tulare counties.