Record Atlas
5 eras · 1769–2026 · 121 places

California — Spanish, Mexican and American

San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Francisco, Sacramento. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1769–1804 Spanish Las Californias — mission and presidio frontier FamilySearch

The first Alta California mission and presidio were founded at San Diego in 1769. The Santa Barbara Mission-Archive Library holds copies of the sacramental registers of the California missions; the Santa Barbara Presidio kept registers separate from the mission's.
1804–1821 Spanish Alta California FamilySearch

Las Californias was split in 1804 and Alta California became a separate province. The 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty set its northern limit at 42 degrees north.
1821–1848 Mexican Alta California FamilySearch

Mexico gained independence on August 24, 1821 and Alta California became a Mexican territory in April 1822; the missions were secularised from 1833. Russia's Fort Ross in northern California was established in 1812 and sold in 1841. U.S. forces took the northern ports in 1846, Californios surrendered in the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847, and Mexico ceded California in 1848.
1848–1850 United States — ceded California, not yet a state FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

The Gold Rush began in 1848. California was admitted as a state on September 9, 1850 with no territorial period.
1850–2026 United States — State of California FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Statewide registration of births and deaths began in 1905. Earlier events are in the county recorder's records, and some counties kept records from the mid-1800s.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1769–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

121 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

All record regions · The map