665 W. Olive Ave
Sunnyvale, CA
94086
408.730.7300
The Sunnyvale Collection
Sunnyvale - Silicon Valley - San Francisco
It is the mission of the Sunnyvale Collection to preserve
and share a record of the evolution of our community, past and present. 

Sunnyvale Collection Home
Timeline of Sunnyvale History
Sunnyvale Histories
History of the Sunnyvale Public Library
Virtual Tour of the Sunnyvale Collection
Sunnyvale eNeighborhood
Sunnyvale Voices - Oral Histories
Sunnyvale Historic Image Archive COMING SOON

 

The purpose of this tour is to present an overview of the Collection, and to help you locate community resources in the Sunnyvale Public Library.

The core of the Sunnyvale Collection is located to the left of the library’s Information Center. But Sunnyvale resources are also located in the video collection, the business collection, the Management Technology Library, and in archival storage, as well as online. Ask at the Information Center if you need any help locating Sunnyvale resources.

 

Sunnyvale Collection Books
Nonfiction books on Sunnyvale, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco are located along the left wall of the Sunnyvale Collection, on the shelves marked with white labels. Here you will find books about area history, technology, biography, education, government, and architecture.

Yearbooks

School yearbooks can be a useful tool for learning about Sunnyvale residents or for reliving old memories. We are adding to the local yearbook collection whenever books become available. 

The Sunnyvale Collection currently includes yearbooks for: 
     Homestead High School   
          (1963+, except '65, '71, '91, '94)
     Fremont High School   
          ('64, '65, '92, '93, 2002)
     Sunnyvale High School 
          ('56-'58, '64-'75 except '68 and '74)

 
 

 

 

Local Government Resources
Local government resources are located along the back wall of the Sunnyvale Collection, along shelves marked with blue labels. Reports, minutes, and other local government documents relate to such government functions as budget, development, transportation, parks and open space, and public safety.

As well as City of Sunnyvale documents, the Collection contains materials from Santa Clara County, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority, and the following school districts: Cupertino Unified High School, Fremont Unified High School, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara Unified.

Agendas of up-coming meetings and other announcements from the City of Sunnyvale are posted in the Sunnyvale Collection.

 

 Copies of agendas of up-coming City Council meetings are available to take home.

 

 Some older city documents are kept in archival storage.   If "Archive" appears in a document's call number, ask at the Reference Desk for assistance.

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NASA Ames/Moffett Field
Sunnyvale Public Library is an official depository for many documents relating to NASA Ames Research Center and Moffett Field. These are located along the right side of the government documents section of the Sunnyvale Collection, on shelves labeled in yellow.

 

Sunnyvale and Silicon Valley
Business Resources

Local business resources are located in the Business Collection, to the right of the Sunnyvale Collection.

 

 Here you will find clippings relating to Sunnyvale businesses, and annual reports of Sunnyvale and major Silicon Valley businesses.

 

Directories

Business directories can be very useful resources for learning about twentieth century local history. 

Polk city directories are located in the Sunnyvale Collection. They are available for Sunnyvale ('64, '66 & '68), Palo Alto ('65) and San Jose ('30) which includes a section on Sunnyvale. More are added as they become available. 

Current Haines Criss-Cross directories are located at the Information Desk. Older Haines (some '70s, '80+) directories are kept in archival storage. Please ask for assistance for these.

 

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Other Resources

 

Newspapers

Sunnyvale newspapers from roughly 1908, as well as San Jose and San Francisco newspapers, are available on microfilm. Microfilm and the microfilm reader are near the magazine collection, to the right of the Information Desk. Please ask a library staff member for help with the microfilm reader.

 

Maps

State, county, and local maps are located in the maps cabinet. The cabinet also contains specialty maps including earthquake maps. The map cabinet is near the magazine collection, to the right of the Information Desk.

 

Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County,
and California Pamphlet Files

Newspaper clippings and other material relating to a wide variety of local interest topics are filed in the Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County, and California Pamphlet Files, located near the Magazine Collection.

 

Historical Societies Newsletters

Newsletters of local historical societies are shelved in the Sunnyvale Collection. Pamphlet boxes hold recent newsletters. Older newsletters are kept in binders. The Collection retains Sunnyvale Historical Society and Museum Association and Santa Clara County Historical and Genealogical Society newsletters permanently and other local newsletters for two years.

 

Videos

The Sunnyvale Collection videos are located on the back wall of the Collection. These include video recordings of city council and planning commission meetings, as well as a variety of videos of local interest. City council and planning commission meeting videos circulate for three days. Other videos circulate for three week.

 

Web Resources


Sunnyvale        
eNeighborhood

Sunnyvale eNeighborhood
Web portal including links to a wide variety of Sunnyvale resources, including civic groups, city government, voter information, businesses, schools, museums, employment information, weather, and volunteering.

Sunnyvale Voices
Oral histories of long-time Sunnyvale residents. Topics include agriculture and farm life, the Hendy family and the Joshua Hendy Iron Works, immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Act, early 20th century town life, and Eichler homes. 

 

 Sunnyvale Histories
Essays on Sunnyvale history from 1956, 1973, 1990, and 2001. Includes
essays on the three main eras of Sunnyvale history written in 2001 for the Sunnyvale Voices series, by Mary Jo Ignoffo, the author of Sunnyvale, From the City of Destiny to the Heart of the Silicon Valley.

Sunnyvale History Timeline
Historical timeline of Sunnyvale from prehistory to the early 21st century. Illustrated with historic photographs.

Sunnyvale Historic Images Archive COMING SOON
Historic photographs illustrating Sunnyvale's past and preserving its present.

 

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