Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California Illustrated, edited by H. S. Foote, published in 1888. This book details the history of San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley written by people living in the 1880’s.
Images of America, Chinese in San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley, Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, Lillian Gon-Guy and Gerrye Wong
The Life of Henry George by Henry George Jr., published 1911
“Members of the Victorian Preservation Association of Santa Clara Valley, a non-profit organization, share an interest in the older buildings of our community, especially turn–of–the–century homes. Whether your interest is Gothic Revival, Italianate, Eastlake, Stick, Queen Anne, Classic Revival, or the humble Craftsman bungalow, you'll find plenty of friends and information when you join our club. We embrace ALL vintage architecture, not just Victorians and welcome all types of homeowners. Membership is open to anyone interested in learning about building and conservation techniques, architecture, decoration, and historic preservation of Vintage homes. Meetings are usually held in members’ homes, but being an owner of one of these homes is not required for membership. ”
“The Preservation Action Council of San Jose (PAC) began in 1990 as a group of concerned residents, who felt that historic buildings were being torn down needlessly. They felt that San Jose had already lost many beautiful buildings, and that it would lose many more unless something was done. Since that time, PAC*SJ has become a fully staffed 501(c)(3) nonprofit, dedicated to saving and finding new uses for old buildings, and to encouraging quality new design. We believe that historic preservation is good for our quality of life and good for business.”
“We aim to integrate a strong commitment to historic preservation into the land use and development decisions of the City of San Jose that affect historic resources, as well as into the private decisions of property owners and developers. We try to bring owners and developers together to create historically sensitive projects that make economic sense.”
The planning department in San Jose has information about historic preservation. There is a lot of information available for homeowners that want to do remodeling. City of San Jose Historic Planning Division
The National Parks Service has information on various Federal programs. link to the National Parks Service
The National Parks Service has information on tax incentives for owners of historic buildings. /p>The National Parks Service has information on tax incentives for owners of historic buildings.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private group dedicated to identifying historic properties at risk and saving them.
This web site has information on the Mills Act property tax relief. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21412
The California Room at the main San Jose library has most everything dealing with San Jose history. The librarians are willing to assist you and were a big help to me. http://www.sjlibrary.org/research/special/ca/