ARCHIVES

The BCHS Archives collects all kinds of documentary materials, including books, ledgers, manuscripts, ephemera, etc. for research use.

The Museum Collection contains 3-dimensional items made, used in, or otherwise pertinent to Butte County History.

Resources: Library books pertinent to Butte County History; cemetery records, city directories, biographical files, subject files (ephemera and clippings), photograph collection, document files and three-dimensional artifact collection.

Major Collections: Sorenson Photo Collection, Gray-Nurse Hardware Collection.

Archives work is about both long-term preservation of documentary materials and developing ways to serve researchers through cataloguing, creating finding aids, etc. "Service Requests" come in almost daily from far and near. Topics are varied, and our ability to help is dependent on a combination of cataloguing practices and sometimes just luck that someone has given us a particular photo or informational item. The bulk of requests continue to be for family history, but there are many other kinds of requests as well. Some recently:

• Photos and records of the Odd Fellows Home in Thermalito (1895 - 1910)
• Finding the logo used on uniforms of the Oroville Olives baseball team (1910 - 1915)
• Finding locations of early mines, olive orchards or other enterprises
• Researching pesticide use on crops in Butte County in the mid-20th century
• Seeking to learn locations of original buildings in Cherokee

If you have any information about or memorabilia from the following, we would appreciate knowing about it and acquiring it if you no longer need it. (We will either copy and return the originals or provide you with a copy.

• The Lone Tree School (a photo especially needed) or other schools.
• Bud Jones' Automotive Repair and Packard / Jeep Dealership, Chico (c 1947 - 1952).
• History of South Oroville (homes, businesses, inhabitants, etc.).
• A hotel or rooming house at Baggett Crossing (south of Oroville).
• A building on the SE corner of 5th and Cherry in Chico, a Chinese Laundry and later a Chinese herbalist's shop (about 1900 until the early or mid-1930s).

If you are interested in assisting researchers or helping us with the job of cataloguing and developing finding aids in the Archives, please call 530-533-9418 or 530-879-9369