Genealogy, Ethnicity & Maps


Happily and luckily for us, the wealth of cultures in Silicon Valley continues to expand each year! My ability to locate new and existing groups and organizations remains an ongoing project, thus, this is by no means a complete list. This page is being continually updated.

Likewise, the list below, in its current state, does not represent any particular personal bias in terms of inclusion nor omission. Please email me if you have suggestions for non-profit groups, ethnic and cultural histories, or ethnic and cultural-based organizations, which may be added to this page. Thanks!

Museums, Virtual Archives, Collections and Cultural Centers:
The Ohlone in Santa Clara, Santa Clara University
See also, from the National Park Service Cultural Resources Website:
Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today
Title and Summary (PDF file, 300 kb)
Chapter 1 (PDF file, 1.2 mb)
Chapter 2 (PDF file, 2.2 mb)
Chapter 3 (PDF file, 1.6 mb)
Chapter 4 (PDF file, 600 kb)
Chapter 5 (PDF file, 300 kb)
Chapter 6 (PDF file, 300 kb)
Chapter 7 (PDF file, 400 kb)
Chapter 8 (PDF file, 500 kb)
Chapter 9 (PDF file, 1.3 mb)
Chapter 10 (PDF file, 400 kb)
Chapter 11 (PDF file, 200 kb)
Bibliography (PDF file, 400 kb)
Appendices A, B, C (PDF file, 300 kb)
Appendices D, E, F (PDF file, 2.8 mb)

In a video by U.C. Berkeley, Mark Hylkema, Santa Cruz District Archaeologist at California State Parks, states: 

"In the Santa Cruz mountains, UC Berkeley archaeologists and anthropologists have joined with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and California State Parks to uncover ancient tribal practices to help bring their history to light and find more sustainable approaches to land management." 

Statistics:
Cemeteries:
Genealogy:
Online Safety: Most genealogy Web sites have privacy, cookie and usage information available for users and subscribers before they enter personal data into these free or fee-based services. There may also be a range of privacy, sharing and shared research options and settings which users and subscribers may agree to or opt out of, before they proceed to enter private, personal or family data online. 
Since family birth and death dates, family names and family histories may pose security and privacy issues for living descendants, users and subscribers of these services may wish to read and understand how their data may be used, shared, displayed, collected or stored by any online genealogy service, then may wish to consult with their living family members regarding online personal data collection, display, sharing, storage, privacy settings and privacy permissions, before using any Web-based genealogy search service.
  • The California Genealogy Society Directory has a wide selection of resources in this region. 
  • FamilySearch online has a wide variety of free genealogy research tools, plus the ability to create a free family tree. The site requires registering for an account.
  • Ancestry.com also has a wide variety of local, US and global genealogy tools. The services are available for a monthly or annual fee, by registering for a new account.
The Santa Clara County Historical and Genealogical Society has online as well as "bricks and mortar" speaker meetings, an array of special interest groups, plus a range of resources and tools for beginning and experienced history researchers, including online indexes which include: lists of early settlers, county histories, (Santa Clara) Mission Cemetery records, the 1852 Census records, plus a host of other interesting links and resources on the Valley. 
Other Groups:

 Historic Maps:

Place Names:

 Aerial Images:

  • California Coastal Records Project online offers 96,000 aerial views of the California coastline from 1979 to the current year. Military bases are not included in the aerial imagery.
  • Historic Aerials is a commercial real estate site which offers views of properties and regions over time, or "layered historical orthophotography and modern orthophotography", for a subscription fee. Unfortunately they also track property owner information from public records. Their site has some ads and flashing distractions, however, the paid subscriber information may be of interest to those researching property histories.
  • USGS Earth Explorer offers free geolocation map images online with a search by coordinates, city or other location type. Scope includes both the United states and world sites, plus declassified sites.


---Catherine Alexander Bright, SiliconValleyLibrarian.org