The Archives and Special Collections reading room is closed until further notice due to COVID-19. We will be able to provide limited online reference service during this closure.
Our mission is to identify, collect, interpret, and provide access to rare and unique material. We support research and teaching of the health sciences and medical humanities and preserve the institutional memory of UCSF. For more, see About Us.
We’re Open to the Public by Appointment
Monday through Wednesday from 9am to 4pm. Physical materials require supervised access due to their unique and often fragile nature.
Browse Collections
Calisphere
View and download digitized images and documents from our manuscript and photograph collections.
HathiTrust
Full-text searchable digitized books and publications, including UCSF newsletters and yearbooks.
UCSF at Internet Archive
Audiovisual items as well as selected digitized publications, including state medical society journals.
Synapse Archive
Digital archive of Synapse, the UCSF student newspaper that began publication in 1957.
Web Archives
Archived websites and web-based material, including UCSF pages and health sciences subject collections.
Industry Documents Library
Full-text searchable archive of over 15 million internal corporate documents from industries which influence public health, including the tobacco, pharmaceutical, chemical, food, and fossil fuel industries.
AIDS History Project
UCSF Archives and Special Collections has played a key role in documenting the AIDS epidemic.
Anesthesia
Material related to the history and development of anesthesia, particularly on the West Coast.
Biotechnology
Documenting the leadership of scientists and Bay Area corporations in the growth of biotechnology.
COVID-19 Pandemic
Documenting UCSF’s efforts related to research, patient care, community outreach, education, as well as everyday personal experiences that shape our collective record.
Health Sciences Artifacts
Objects that illustrate the development of health sciences tools and techniques.
Homeopathy
Publications and manuscript collections documenting homeopathy education and practice.
Industry Documents
Internal company documents and audiovisual materials acquired from the files of industries that impact public health.
Tobacco Control
Material from agencies and activists involved in tobacco control policy, research and education.
University Archives
The official repository for records and memorabilia generated by or about UCSF.
Search
Search rare books and journals, university archives, and manuscript collections in our main catalog.
Search detailed inventories of selected UCSF university archives and manuscript collections.
Some of our collections can’t be searched online. Ask us about our physical archives.
Open to the Public by Appointment
Monday – Wednesday, 9am – 4pm
530 Parnassus Ave, 5th Floor
Tel: (415) 476-8112
Archives and Special Collections Newsletter