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  • Browse the multitude of pages of digitized records and photographs
    from the City Clerk's Archives Collection on the Digital Archives website.

    New material is added daily, including photographs, maps, land records, historical minutes
    and ordinances, streaming videos and audio, and much, much more.

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Digital Archives

A service provided by the Office of City Clerk

202 C Street, Basement
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: 619-236-7312
Hours: M-F, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

If you have public research requests, please visit Nextrequest portal.

Preserving original and trustworthy records is crucial to the functioning of a civil society. With this in mind, the City of San Diego launched its Archives Program in 1987, establishing the Archives Center to serve as a central source of information and materials regarding the history and development of the City of San Diego.

Among the primary functions of the Archives Center is the identification, preservation and storage of records with permanent reference value that capture the City's history. These records do not simply provide a chronology of events, but rather, they provide a window into the City's past: the culture, values, challenges and issues that helped to shape the City of San Diego we know today.

The City Clerk Archives is responsible for the preservation of legal and historical official municipal records, including maps, books, microfilm, images and audio dating back to the 1850s.  These fascinating and educational records join the existing collections housed in the City Clerk Archives which include records dating from approximately 1835 to 1960.