Finding Aids - San Francisco Parklands

Finding aids contain information on the contents and significance of an archival collection. The finding aid may include descriptive information; repository information; collection history; biographical or historical information on creators of the collection; and in some cases a container or folder list of everything in the collection. The collection is housed at the Park Archives and Records Center and can be viewed during open hours or by appointment. Please visit the Collections page for more information or email us.

 

Golden Gate NRA Event Ephemera Collection GOGA 12262 (PDF 760KB) (RTF 22.5MB)
A collection of color posters, handbills, brochures, and programs advertising events held at sites within Golden Gate National Recreation Area, [c.1976]-1981. Events include the Pickle Family Circus, the Annual Western Regional Folk Festival, and the North Beach Photographic Art Fair.

Black Point Battery Archaeological Records, 1982-1989 GOGA 16050 (PDF 1.3MB) (RTF 4.83MB)
This collection is comprised records created and collected during the 1982-1984 archaeological excavations at Black Point Battery (also referred to as Battery East and Battery West), Fort Mason in San Francisco, California.Built in 1864, Black Point Battery is the most completely preserved temporary Civil War battery located on the West Coast. The log books, site plans, reports, artifact documentation, and other records show the administrative history, process, and findings of the archaeological excavation project.

Edwin J. Stotler Photographs GOGA 33760 (PDF 390KB) (RTF 4.47MB)
The collection is comprised of lantern slides and photographs photographs taken by Edwin J. Stotler while serving as a private in Company M, 51st Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Spanish American and then the Philippine American War from 1898 through 1899. Images capture the regiment’s journey to San Francisco from Iowa via train, its residence at the Presidio of San Francisco, and sight-seeing trips around San Francisco. While living at Camp Merritt and then Camp Merriam on post, Stotler and his brother, Harry, saw Mount Tamalpais, Fort Point, Sutro Baths, and Golden Gate Park as well as other landmarks in the city. Also captured is the regiment’s trip overseas and eventual participation in the Philippines. Offered through a first person lens, the sights of a common American volunteer soldier are experienced: everything from intimate shots of company officers and high ranking officials (such as Admiral Dewey), marching through tropical towns and soaking up vistas along the Pasig River, shopping at markets run by native Filipinos, and surveying the enemy dead. Equally thorough are images depicting the regiment’s residence at the Presidio of San Francisco before mustering out in late 1899. In total, the collection offers an in depth look into the life of a soldier at war with Filipino “insurgents” in the late 19th-century.

Whitney Brother/Cliff House Properties Drawing Collection, GOGA 35155 (PDF 820KB) (RTF 81.4MB)
This collection of drawings spans the years 1892 through 1974 and documents primarily the development of the Cliff House and Playland areas during that period. The majority of drawings date from the 1930s to 1960s, though, and relate to the Whitney Brothers' operations and their largely unrealized plans for development of the area. Many of these drawings date from the period 1966-1974 and show a wide variety of proposals for redeveloping the area as a condominium complex.

Roy D. Graves Collection GOGA 35248 (PDF 750KB) (RTF 10.9MB)
Papers relating to the personal history and interests of Roy D. Graves, his wife Ethel, their daughter Jeanne, and her in-laws, the Ferraris. Items include photographs, newsletters, historical ephemera, clippings, scrapbooks, memorabilia, maps and postcards. Topics focus on the San Francisco Bay Area and include transportation, especially streetcars and trains, world fairs and other San Francisco attractions, the effects of World War II on daily life, California missions, shipping, and early San Francisco history.

People for a Golden Gate National Recreation Area - PFGGNRA Papers GOGA 35304 (PDF 1.1MB) (RTF 35.2MB)
This collection is shaped around the work of the ad-hoc committee People for a Golden Gate National Recreation Area (PFGGNRA) from 1970 to 1994. The organization's original goal was to establish the GGNRA, and it continued to oversee the expansion of the park and the implementation of the enabling legislation. These papers were amassed by Amy Meyer, founding member and co-chairman of the committee.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area General Management Plan Papers GOGA 35312 (PDF 577KB) (RTF 5.11MB)
This collection consists of materials collected during the development of the first GGNRA General Management Plan (GMP). It includes background and source material, planning files, public meeting materials, graphics and other documents relating to the contracts to research potential uses for the lands encompassed within the recently developed GGNRA. The GMP process incorporates proposals for development and use of various land sites and features and includes a rigorous public process to review alternatives. The resulting document, the GMP, lays out a program for a national park area for a period of ten to fifteen years into the future.

Charles Wofford Seacoast Artillery Collection GOGA 35315 (PDF 312KB) (RTF 313KB)
This collection consists of the photographs, publications and photocopies of documents relating to seacoast artillery, amassed by Chuck Wofford. While there are copies of many general coast artillery publications, the collection is strong in information relating directly to the San Francisco Bay Area seacoast artillery installations. The general publications include regulations and training manuals, as well as notes on construction. There are also copies of ledgers and journals relating specifically to San Francisco Bay Area fortifications. Contemporary studies of seacoast fortifications include the journal of the Coast Defense Study Group, general studies, and GGNRA and other published materials on GGNRA seacoast artillery resources. There are also numerous contemporary photographs and negatives and photocopies of historic photographs of coastal batteries at Fort Baker, Fort Barry, Fort Cronkhite, Fort Funston, Fort Miley, Fort McDowell, Fort Mason, Fort Miley and Fort Scott.

Clyde Wahrhaftig Collection GOGA 35329 (PDF 1.2MB) (RTF 6.59MB)
The Clyde Wahrhaftig Collection is made of Bay Area Geologists, Clyde Wahrhaftig, manuscripts & papers, photographs, and maps. A Streetcar to Subduction and other Plate Tectonic Trips by Public Transport in San Francisco was a book Clyde wrote in 1979 and revised in 1984 about visiting geological sites in San Francisco using only public transportation. Also included are documents from professional organizations and clubs he was a member of, books from his own personal collection, photographic images, and orthophotographs (an aerial photograph with distortions due to tilt, curvature, and ground relief removed that has the accuracy of a map and the clarity of a photograph) primarily of the San Francisco Bay Area. The last portion of the Clyde Wahrhaftig collection consists of his maps. There are several different types of maps including geographic maps, topographic maps, quadrangle maps, and street maps.

Fort Mason Collection, 1873-1993 GOGA 35337 (PDF 286KB) (RTF 3.20MB)
The Fort Mason Collection is comprised of real property and building utilization records, historic documents which traverse the spectrum of reservation boundary and easement titles to information on the founding of the State of California and San Francisco to the initial acquisition of railroad facilities, records which document the role of the San Francisco Port of Embarkation during World War II throughout the Bay Area as well as the Western Coast at large, records which document Fort Mason's deactivation and transfer to the National Park Service (NPS) which encompassed the movement of operations to Oakland and then, eventually, to the Presidio of San Francisco, and, finally, records which document the beginning of NPS environmental conservation and architectural restoration and reuse efforts.

United States Army Project Records, 1910-1999 GOGA 37252 (PDF 14.8MB) (RTF 34.7MB)
The United States Army Project Records, dating from 1910-1999, is organized into five series: Contracts, Work Orders, Post Requests, Project Lists, and Additional Material. The bulk of the material dates from 1964-1995. The project records originated from the various directorates and offices of the U.S. Army stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco and its sub-installations: Fort Baker, Fort Barry, Fort Cronkhite, Fort Funston, Fort Mason, Fort Miley, Fort Point, Fort Winfield Scott, Letterman Army Institute of Research, Letterman Army Medical Center, Letterman General Hospital, Public Health Service Hospital, and various Nike Sites including SF-51 in Pacifica and Nike Site SF-88 at Fort Barry.