California State Archives: Wonderful Local Sources for Genealogical Research

https://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/

Quoting from the California State Archives website:

California's first legislature, meeting in 1849–50, charged the Secretary of State to receive "…all public records, registered maps, books, papers, rolls, documents and other writings . . . which appertain to or are in any way connected with the political history and past administration of the government of California." The Act Concerning the Public Archives (Chapter 1, Statutes of 1850 (PDF)) was the first law signed by California's first governor on January 5, 1850. The California State Archives, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State, continues to serve in the spirit of those early instructions, providing a repository for the state's permanent governmental records as well as other materials documenting California history. The California State Archives serves a wide variety of researchers whose interests range from legislative intent and public policy to genealogy and railroad history in California. 

Archives staff continually organize and describe the records we receive to provide easier and faster access for researchers. Visit the Collections & Catalogs page for more information.

Obviously, the number of potential records in any one of the state archives depends, in part, on the length of time the records have been produced and the population of the state during that time period. Relatively small states such as Delaware and Rhode Island can have huge accumulations of records while some of the western states will have significantly smaller collections. California is in an interesting position. It certainly has the population, but unlike some of the other western states, California's history dates back to 1542 when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and his crew sailed into San Diego Bay. But most of the collections of the Archives date back only to the legislatively mandated date of 1849-50. 

Here is a further description of the Archives from the website:

The California State Archives collects, catalogs, preserves, and provides access to the historic records of state government and some local governments. The Archives collection is primarily composed of records from California state agencies, the governor's office, the state legislature, and the State Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal. The records are organized under the name of the agency or office that transferred the records to the Archives. The collections also include some private papers that have been donated to the Archives. 

The State Archives has specialized programs to collect and preserve records of state government. The Legislative Archives Program, Court Records Program and Governor's Records Program work with the three branches of Government to identify records of enduring value that should be preserved in the Archives. The State Records Appraisal Program works to identify and collect records of state agencies. 

Each year hundreds of researchers contact and visit the California State Archives seeking documentation to support their historical investigation. Reference Desk staff help researchers identify collections that are most relevant to their area of interest and retrieve those records from a secure storage area for researchers to view in the large Research Room.

The California State Archives hosts an annual open house each year in October and has other outreach programs including monthly tours, a speaker series, Digital Archives Day, preservation workshops, and periodic exhibits.

The main collections of the Archives consist of the following:

• California Constitutions
• Governor's Records
• Legislative Resources
• State Agencies and Constitutional Officers Records
• Trademarks
• Family History Resources
• Spanish and Mexican Land Grants
• Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Investigation Records
• Local Government Records
• Photograph Collections
• Oral Histories
• Supreme and Appellate Court Records

The Archives has some specifically identified collections for genealogists. In addition, the Archives is the genealogy library of the Root Cellar–Sacramento Genealogical Society, which is open to the public and staffed by volunteers several days each week. Here is another quote about the records that are directly related to genealogical research.

Our collections contain microfilmed copies and original records from 28 of California's counties including probate, deeds, and naturalization records. State agency collections of interest to genealogists include records of the California National Guard (1849–1942), Folsom and San Quentin Prisons (1850–1945), early California Youth Authority records (1891–1932), Yountville Veteran's Home Registers (1884–1910), and various professional and vocational licensing boards (1885–1968).

Many of the genealogically important records from California are online on different genealogy websites, but the Archives also maintains the California Digital Archives.  Surprisingly, this collection is quite limited so researchers will either have to go to the Archives or depend on the other online genealogy websites.

https://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/california-digital-archives/