News Release

San Francisco, CA - Have you ever lived, worked, attended school, or owned a business in the Ocean View, Merced, or Ingleside neighborhoods of San Francisco? If so, the San Francisco Public Library invites you to take part in "Shades of Ocean View", a photo history project documenting the daily lives and historical, political, and cultural contributions of the City’s diverse communities.

Current and former residents of the Ocean View, Merced, and Ingleside neighborhoods are asked to bring their family photo albums and share their family stories with the San Francisco Public Library staff on Sunday, February 24, 2002. The Photo Day event will be held at the Ocean View Branch library, 345 Randolph Street at Ramsell, from 10:00am to 3:00pm.

Appointments to participate in the Shades of Ocean View February 24th photo day are strongly recommended and can be made by contacting Nina Sazevich at (415) 752-2483. During the photo day event, SFPL staff and professional photographers will select and copy images from personal photograph collections while Library staff and volunteers interview the donors. The copied photos will be added to the photo archives of the San Francisco History Center at the Main Library and to the Ocean View Branch Library collection where they will become important primary sources for research by scholars, students, and the general public.

"This photo day is a wonderful opportunity to capture the story of the Ocean View, Merced, and Ingleside districts and preserve them in a branch library and City archives," says Susan Goldstein, City Archivist. "We need pictures of streets, houses, and local businesses along with those of family and community life. The Library does not have enough images of the southern neighborhoods in the City or the people who lived there," says Goldstein.

"Shades of Ocean View" is the San Francisco Public Library’s third "Shades of San Francisco" photographic history archive project that seeks to preserve the cultural history of San Francisco neighborhoods while also documenting changes in the physical landscape over the years. The project is modeled after a similar one conducted by the Los Angeles Public Library.

"Shades of Ocean View" is made possible through the support of the Friends and Foundation of the San Francisco Public Library. Volunteers who wish to assist library staff in a variety of ways on the February 24th Photo Day at the Ocean View Branch library should contact Nina Sazevich by February 11 at (415) 752-2483.

All programs and exhibits at the Library are free of charge and open to the public.

For more information, please call (415) 557-4277.