More than 5,000 people use the Elizabeth J. Schultz Anaheim History Room at the Anaheim public Library each year.
It began three decades ago with 600 historical photographs and 200 books on Anaheim history. It now includes 15,000 catalogued photographs and nearly 4,000 books.
Among the rare holdings in the Anaheim History Room are a collection of city and county directories dating back to 1872, the original records of the Los Angeles Vineyard Society, the group that founded Anaheim, and a copy of "Miner A.B.C.", a rare chart dating from the gold rush era.
Police and private detectives refer to the room's collection of Anaheim high school yearbooks to help identify victims or suspects of crime. Urban planning students look at old city planning records and records of Anaheim's founders to study how urban planning has changed in the past century. People doing family genealogies examine telephone books, census records and cemetery records to help trace their ancestors. And every Anaheim third grader tours the local history room as part of the school's local history courses.
Many valuable segments of the collection have been donated from descendants of Anaheim's founders, who gave their ancestor's personal papers or family photographs. The local history room lacked a photograph of Major Max Strobel, Anaheim's first mayor, until one was donated by Strobel's descendants.
The History room is located in the Anaheim Public Library at 500 West Broadway (at Harbor) and is open:
Monday 9 am to 9 pm
Tuesday through Friday 9 am to 6 pm
Closed Saturday and Sunday
Call 714-765-1850 for more information
