San Francisco - The Early Years on CD, 1897 - 1916 (2-CD Set)

The complete photographic and video history of the life and times of early San Francisco on this exclusive 2-CD Set! Over 150+ high-resolution photographs and 32 historic films covering all aspects of early San Francisco as we know it. Included in great detail is coverage of The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, before and after images, panoramic photographs and more.

This collection is a true work of art and the finest collection available on the history of San Francisco available today. All pictures are fully printable from the CDs and are suitable for framing!


These photographs are all scans from the authentic originals and are of the highest quality. The films are in .mpeg format and are playable on any computer. These CDs are a great visual reference and study guide for any historical buff or educational student alike.

32 Vintage Historic San Francisco Films

This collection consists of 32 films of San Francisco from before and after the Great Earthquake and Fire, 1897 - 1916. The majority of the films depict San Francisco and its environs before the 1906 disaster, while seven films describe the great earthquake and fire. Two later films include a 1915 travelogue that shows scenes of the rebuilt city and a tour of the Panama Pacific Exposition and a 1916 propaganda film.

• Army Pack Train Bringing Supplies - This film highlights the role of the United States Army in transporting supplies following the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco. [more info]

• Arrest in Chinatown, San Francisco, Cal. - This film shows the arrest and conveyance of a Chinese man in Chinatown, watched by a crowd of onlookers. [more info]

• Bird's-Eye View of San Francisco, Cal., From a Balloon - As early as 1874, passenger balloon flights were being made over San Francisco. San Franciscans - and Americans in general - were fascinated with the thrills and dangers of flight. [more info]

• Exploded Gas Tanks, U.S. Mint, Emporium and Spreckels Bld'g - This film is a spectacular pan of the downtown area of San Francisco as seen from south of Market Street. [more info]

• Hotel Vendome, San Jose, Cal. - This brief film shows an excursion party passing in the carriage drive of the Vendome Hotel, a major resort hotel in San Jose, south of San Francisco. [more info]

• Launch of Japanese Man-of-War "Chitosa" [i.e., "Chitose"] - This film shows the launching of the Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser Chitose at the Union Iron Works shipyard, San Francisco, on Saturday, January 22, 1898. [more info]

• Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco, Cal. - The 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition was San Francisco's second fair (following the 1894 Mid-Winter Fair) and her first major exposition. [more info]

• Market Street Before Parade - This film is an automobile tour of a portion of the arrival parade route of President Theodore Roosevelt along Market Street, San Francisco, on Tuesday, May 12, 1903. [more info]

• Mount Tamalpais R.R., no. 2 - This film shows the summit portion of the Mill Valley and Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway, the Tamalpais Tavern resort, and part of the adjacent east peak of Mount Tamalpais. [more info]

• Over Route of Roosevelt Parade in an Automobile - This film is a review by automobile of the arrival parade route of President Theodore Roosevelt, on Tuesday, May 12, 1903. [more info]

• Panorama of Beach and Cliff House - This film is an afternoon panorama of weekend crowds at the north end of Ocean Beach, the western shore of San Francisco near the famed Cliff House. [more info]

• Panorama, Union Square, San Francisco - This film shows the crowd gathered in San Francisco for the dedication of the Dewey Monument in Union Square, on Thursday, May 14, 1903, from 9:00am to 9:20am. [more info]

• Panoramic View of the Golden Gate - This film, photographed from the front of a moving steam engine, shows the scenic portion of the Ferries and Cliff House Railroad route along the bluffs and cliffs of Lands End (at the northwest corner of San Francisco) overlooking the Golden Gate and the Marin headlands. [more info]

• The President's Carriage - This film shows President Roosevelt in San Francisco, passing in the arrival parade on Market Street on Tuesday, May 12, 1903. [more info]

• San Francisco Chinese Funeral - This film shows most of the ceremonial portion of the funeral procession of Tom Kim Yung (1858-1903), military attache to the Chinese legation to the United States. [more info]

• San Francisco Disaster - This film shows the partial burning of a small-scale model of downtown San Francisco in an early attempt at simulating the 1906 disaster. [more info]

• San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906 - This film shows the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906, and the devastation resulting from the subsequent three-day fire. [more info]

• San Francisco's Future - By mid-1916, after viewing the carnage in Europe, the United States saw itself poised with great reluctance on the edge of participation in World War I. [more info]

• Scene in Chinatown - This film was shot in an alley of San Francisco's Chinatown on Saturday, September 15, 1900, at midday. [more info]

• Scenes in San Francisco, [no. 1] - This film is a compilation of views and pans among the ruins of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire and dates from Wednesday, May 9, 1906. [more info]

• Scenes in San Francisco, [no. 2] - This film is a compilation of panoramas filmed in the ruins of downtown San Francisco and outlying refugee camps following the 1906 earthquake and fire. [more info]

• Teddy Roosevelt in San Francisco, 1903 - President Roosevelt reviewed the school children of San Francisco from 10:00am to 10:30am on Wednesday, May 13, 1903. An estimated 40,000 school children gathered along both sides of Van Ness Avenue, west of the downtown area, for the parade. [more info]

• A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire - This film, shot from the front window of a moving Market Street cable car, is a rare record of San Francisco's principal thoroughfare and downtown area before their destruction in the 1906 earthquake and fire. [more info]

• A Trip to Berkeley, Cal. - This film, shot from a moving streetcar, shows portions of north Berkeley and the adjacent University of California campus, circa 1906. [more info]

• Troops Embarking at San Francisco - This film shows troops of the First Regiment, California Volunteers, boarding the Pacific Mail steamer City of Peking to serve in the Philippine theater of the Spanish-American War. [more info]

• [Unidentified Staples & Charles. San Francisco After the Earthquake and Fire of 1906] - This film is made up of five panoramas, four wide and one close-up, of the ruins of downtown San Francisco shortly after the 1906 disaster, plus a panorama and scene in a nearby refugee camp. [more info]

This is the most complete collection on Early San Francisco in existence!
Revisit this historic location today!

This is a true collector's piece and a work of art. No other product comes close to the quality of the San Francisco - The Early Years on CD, 1897 - 1916 (2-CD Set).

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