Manuscript Archives

The Hearst Museum has accumulated a vast amount of archival resources from over a century of research. These resources are available for both the archaeological and ethnographic collections.

One well known resource is the Archaeological Research Facility’s Manuscripts Series. Initiated by archaeologist Robert F. Heizer in 1949, the series was originally formed by merging manuscripts from the older museum collections, field notes from the Sacramento Junior College excavations, and the California Archaeological Survey unpublished documents. When the California Archaeological Survey transitioned into the Archaeological Research Facility in 1961, the series was named accordingly. During the years at the Archaeological Research Facility, the list was expanded by including multiple manuscripts related to collections that were not necessarily curated at Berkeley, camera-ready copies of published contributions and other media like maps and photos. In 1993, the series was transferred back to the museum where it is curated today. The Hearst Museum has since expanded the list of available manuscripts with documents found in its archives and accession envelopes. For an updated list of manuscripts please follow this link.

In addition to written documents, the Museum curates a large collection of maps, drawings and field sketches that were either produced at the Museum or generated during fieldwork and later accessioned with the objects. Same as for the manuscripts, many of these documents had been transferred back and forth between the Museum and Berkeley’s Archaeological Research Facility over the last five decades. These documents are now reunited with its associated collection and kept in the Museum’s archives. Review a current list of map titles here.

For information or inquiries about all archival resources, please submit a Research Request Form and select “Documentation” in the Collection Type field.