Researching the Phelan Building

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Abstract

</h2><ul><li><a href="http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=q&hs=1&r=1&results=1&txq=%22phelan+building%22&txf=txIN&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN------">California Digital Newspaper Collection</a> has nice searchable database from late 1880s into 1920-30s. (Pro tip: Use Firefox for their right-click menu to save to PDF. For some reason it doesn’t work in Chrome.)</li><li><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22phelan%20building%22%20site:news.google.com/newspapers&source=newspapers">Google Newspapers Search</a></li></ul><h2 id="e588">Libraries online</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22phelan+building%22&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1">Google Book Search</a></li><li><a href="http://sflib1.sfpl.org/search/?searchtype=X&searcharg=%22phelan+building%22">San Francisco Public Library</a></li><li><a href="http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/search/a?searchtype=X&searcharg=%22phelan+building%22&SORT=D">San Francisco Public Library Historical Photograph Collection</a></li><li><a href="http://content.cdlib.org/search?facet=type-tab&relation=calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu&style=cui&keyword=%22phelan+building%22&x=0&y=0">University of California images</a></li><li><a href="http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/research/collection_search.html">California Historical Society</a></li><li><a href="http://sfmta.photoshelter.com/">SFMTA Photo Archive</a></li><li><a href="http://www.oac.cdlib.org/search?query=%22phelan+building%22&x=0&y=0">Online Archive of California</a></li><li><a href="http://californiaephemeraproject.org/">California Ephemera Project</a></li><li><a href="http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/">The Bancroft Library</a></li><li><a href="http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=%22phelan+building%22">Library of Congress</a></li></ul><p id="b2a2">For some of the books/ephemera we found, we tried to locate them on Amazon or in nearby libraries. (That led us to finding the rare <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/phelan-building-an-entirely-new-modern-class-a-office-building-and-a-san-francisco-landmark/oclc/65288916">1908 booklet</a> in the Sacramento State Library.)</p><p id="c086"><a href="http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/research/pdf/Research_Sources_March_2013.pdf">This page with online resources and research centers</a> put together by California Historical Society was very useful.</p><h2 id="001a">Libraries in person</h2><p id="51ef">We followed those up with visiting those libraries in person.</p><p id="3d74">In San Francisco History Center (6th floor of the public library’s main branch), we checked out their <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/blog/2011/6/27/pre-earthquake-san-francisco-1905-sanborn-insurance-atlas">Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps</a>. We also went through paper catalogues, searching for the building name, James D. Phelan, <i>&c. </i>We also located the <a href="http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt2p30342b/">vertical fi # Options le/ephemera</a> and just looked through the books on display.</p><p id="fc46">The amazing <a href="http://www.prelingerlibrary.org/">Prelinger Library</a> is worth visiting also (open Wednesday afternoons).</p><p id="d134">It’s worth calling in advance and checking what’s the policy on taking photos or making copies. The State Library actually helped us a lot before we even ventured out to Sacramento.</p><figure id="9a9c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*CEd-VdnZHTmZAG_3pt82GQ.png"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><h2 id="a3d8">Photos</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1276&bih=706&q=%22phelan+building%22&oq=%22phelan+building%22&gs_l=img.3...1089.3105.0.3226.17.2.0.15.0.1.307.345.1j3-1.2.0....0...1ac.1.42.img..17.0.0.OXb9NBZHkTQ">Google Image Search</a></li><li><a href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=phelan%20building">Flickr</a></li><li><a href="http://500px.com/search?q=phelan+building&submit=Submit">500px</a></li><li><a href="http://www.oldsf.org/">OldSF</a></li><li><a href="http://www.cardcow.com/search2.php?section=all&substring=phelan+building&x=0&y=0">CardCow</a> for postcards</li><li><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&assetType=image&excludenudity=false&p=phelan+building">Getty Images</a> and <a href="http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#q=phelan+building">Corbis</a></li></ul><p id="1165">Pro tip: Save an image and then drag it into <a href="http://images.google.com/">Google Image Search</a> to see if it exists on the web in higher resolution.</p><h2 id="6803">Maps</h2><ul><li>Google Maps</li><li>Google Earth and its <a href="https://www.google.com/earth/explore/showcase/historical.html">Historical Imagery</a> feature</li><li>Google Maps + Street View (with its nice new <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/go-back-in-time-with-street-view.html">“historical” rewind feature</a>)</li><li>Apple Maps on the Mac for their Flyover (3D) mode</li><li>Bing Maps with its nice 45-degree view</li><li><a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/">David Rumsey Historical Map Collection</a></li></ul><h2 id="6fb2">Miscellany</h2><ul><li><a href="http://ec2-50-17-237-182.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pim/">San Francisco Property Information Map</a></li><li>Yelp for businesses currently or previously in (we actually followed up in person with some of them)</li></ul><h2 id="2f2c">Explorations</h2><p id="f638">Lastly, we walked around, tried to visit every nook and cranny, opened every possible door, invited ourselves to other people’s offices, and asked many questions.</p><h2 id="28b9">The future</h2><p id="ad17">Great projects never end. We also set up <a href="http://www.google.com/alerts/">Google Alerts</a> for <i>phelan building</i> and other queries as above to make sure we get new results as they appear on the web.</p><p id="e27f">That’s all. What did we miss?</p></article></body>

My friend Sarah and I spent a lot of time trying to find out anything we could about the Phelan Building. Read on in case you’re interested in how we found what we found.

General online searches

Note that many of those below were dead ends for our building — but they don’t have to be for yours!

Google, of course. Google search for “phelan building.” Also, Google search for “phelan building” with a date restriction up until 2005, to find slightly earlier stuff.
Twitter
Facebook
Amazon. Who knew Amazon has such a great search inside book feature?
eBay for old postcards, documents, &c.
Internet Archive
Google News
Google Groups
Wikipedia
YouTube

As we learned more, we re-visited some of the searches above (and below), but made them more specific or broad:

“phelan building” earthquake
“phelan building” penthouse
“phelan building” postcard
“760 market street” (building address)
“market and o’farrell” (intersection)
william curlett (architect)

We also searched for former or current companies to see if they have any interesting facts or photos:

revere academy, opower office, pacific helm photos

(This permutation led us to the video of Revere Academy on YouTube showing bits and pieces of the building.)

One interesting thing was searching for specific dates, e.g. “phelan building” 1881, which helped us zero in on some specific events we knew of.

Newspapers online

California Digital Newspaper Collection has nice searchable database from late 1880s into 1920-30s. (Pro tip: Use Firefox for their right-click menu to save to PDF. For some reason it doesn’t work in Chrome.)
Google Newspapers Search

Libraries online

For some of the books/ephemera we found, we tried to locate them on Amazon or in nearby libraries. (That led us to finding the rare 1908 booklet in the Sacramento State Library.)

This page with online resources and research centers put together by California Historical Society was very useful.

Libraries in person

We followed those up with visiting those libraries in person.

In San Francisco History Center (6th floor of the public library’s main branch), we checked out their Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. We also went through paper catalogues, searching for the building name, James D. Phelan, &c. We also located the vertical file/ephemera and just looked through the books on display.

The amazing Prelinger Library is worth visiting also (open Wednesday afternoons).

It’s worth calling in advance and checking what’s the policy on taking photos or making copies. The State Library actually helped us a lot before we even ventured out to Sacramento.

Photos

Pro tip: Save an image and then drag it into Google Image Search to see if it exists on the web in higher resolution.

Maps

Google Maps
Google Earth and its Historical Imagery feature
Google Maps + Street View (with its nice new “historical” rewind feature)
Apple Maps on the Mac for their Flyover (3D) mode
Bing Maps with its nice 45-degree view
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Miscellany

San Francisco Property Information Map
Yelp for businesses currently or previously in (we actually followed up in person with some of them)

Explorations

Lastly, we walked around, tried to visit every nook and cranny, opened every possible door, invited ourselves to other people’s offices, and asked many questions.

The future

Great projects never end. We also set up Google Alerts for phelan building and other queries as above to make sure we get new results as they appear on the web.

That’s all. What did we miss?