SAN FRANCISCO, August 19, 2026 – DigitalSF, San Francisco Public Library’s (SFPL) digital archive, has migrated to a new platform with improved features and an enhanced user experience. Found at digitalsf.org, DigitalSF provides the public free access to more than 80,000 digitized and born-digital materials, including historical photographs, documents, manuscripts, publications, maps, oral histories and more. 

Featuring items from before San Francisco even existed as a city, SFPL’s digital archive continues to grow, with new collections added every month. On the new platform, rich, large and diverse collections are available to anyone in the world to explore, no library card required. The collections showcase the City’s unique cultural heritage and local history found nowhere else, highlighting the vital role that libraries play in preserving community stories. Examples of treasures in the digital archives include Harvey Milk’s handwritten speeches, African American oral histories and photos of San Francisco from the 19th century. 

“DigitalSF opens a window into San Francisco’s past,” said Christina Moretta, Photo Curator and Manager of the San Francisco History Center. “The photographs, maps, documents and oral histories reveal the everyday lives, neighborhoods and communities that make this City unique. DigitalSF makes it easier for anyone—whether they live in San Francisco or anywhere in (or around) the world—to explore and share the City’s stories.” 

In addition to the tens of thousands of photographs digitized from prints, negatives and color slides in SFPL’s San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, DigitalSF also holds digitized government documents from SFPL’s Government Information Center, materials from the Hormel LGBTQIA Center's archives, and photos, fliers, documents and clippings from SFPL's Branch Libraries' "vertical files”—historical subject file folders that were kept locally at the branches for day-to-day use. 

Since the launch of the new DigitalSF platform, collections that have been added include: 

• San Francisco Bay Times, 1978-2011: A local LGBTQIA+ newspaper that is still running.  
• The Spokesman, 1965-1969: A San Francisco Black newspaper documenting life in Bayview/Hunters Point. 
• Hunters Point Beacon, 1943-1945: A rare San Francisco semi-monthly newspaper documenting World War II shipyard work and life in Hunters Point. 
• City ordinances going back to 1862 and the City charter from 1853. 
• James E. Gordon Color Slide Collection of San Francisco Murals: 285 digitized color slides documenting San Francisco murals from1976-1984, featuring murals in North Beach, South of Market, the Fillmore, Haight-Ashbury and Castro/Eureka Valley. 
• Robert Dawson Photographs of San Francisco Public Library: Then & Now series of SFPL’s branches and Main Library (1994 and 2022).  

All materials on DigitalSF can be viewed and downloaded for research and fair use. With the new and improved user experience, people can now create a free account to save items, searches and citations. DigitalSF offers more than 37,000 images in the public domain; users can download these images free of charge without copyright permissions. The site also provides links to order high-quality reproductions or obtain permissions to publish.  

Whether users are looking for Harvey Milk's speeches, historical photographs of San Francisco neighborhoods or the 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps with pages burnt from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, DigitalSF has something for everyone.  

Your City. Your History. Your Public Library. To explore the collections, visit digitalsf.org