Shades of California Exploring our History Through Family Photos This is a statewide photo history project which is documenting the daily lives and historical, political, and cultural contributions of the diverse communities of California. Shades of California sponsors "Photo Days" at public libraries throughout the state where people are invited to bring their family albums and personal photograph collections. Community volunteers and project staff select and document photographs which are then copied on-site by professional photographers. These images are archived by the libraries and will be made available to the public at the host libraries. Copies of the photographs will also be maintained at the California State Library. Shades of California is a statewide extension of the nationally-acclaimed "Shades of L.A." project which was developed by the Photo Friends of the Los Angeles Public Library. Between 1991 and 1997, Shades of L.A. copied 10,000 photographs from the family albums of communities in Southern California. These images are now in the Los Angeles public library's photograph Collection, and are an important resource for researchers, writers, curators, and educators. The success of "Shades of L.A." generated new funding for Shades of California, which continues the project through the state. With Library Services and Technology Act funds, the California State library is expanding this project, making it a legacy project of the California Sesquicentennial Commission. On this Web site the Shades of California collections may be found through the Subject Browsing index under "Shades of ..." and under other appropriate subject entries. They are also retrievable under the owning library in the Browse by Library section. Shades of California collections presently available here are: Shades of Anaheim Shades of Corona Shades of Escondido Shades of Folsom Shades of Frazier Park, Kern County Shades of Humboldt County Shades of Taft, Kern County Shades of Long Beach Shades of Monterey Shades of Oxnard Shades of Richmond Shades of Riverside Shades of South San Francisco Shades of Sutter County Shades of Whittier