The Etching and Engraving Picture File

The Etching and Engraving Picture File is one of San Francisco Public Library’s hidden gems. Originally known simply as the “picture file,” it is a collection of 19th century prints organized by subject.

The collection is vast, taking up nearly 100 linear feet of file cabinet space. Being hidden from view under lock and key, it requires a trip to 4th floor Art, Music and Recreation Center to partake of its riches.



There are folders for over 4,500 different subject headings. Some folders have only a single image while others have dozens.

There is good reason to believe that work on the Etching and Engraving Picture File was begun in the 1960s. It has undoubtedly been the work of many hands over many years.

Celeste West, librarian and editor of Synergy, the publication of BARC (the Bay Area Reference Center sponsored by SFPL), gave a very good description of this special collection in the February 1969 issue of the newsletter:

The vast picture collection now being classified and organized at SFPL is one of the most unusual to be housed in a public library. It will contain a million vintage illustrations obtained from 18th and 19th century books and periodicals. The collection is a fine resource in cultural history, providing pictorial information as well as examples of the distinctive art styles in vogue. Of special reference interest is the large section of portraits, which includes many copies noted in the ALA Portrait Index (1906). The picture file should delight historian, artist, and plain browser in its varied scope — everything from the intricate filigree of gothic engravings, through quack medicine ads, and even 1881 racetrack programs from England.

[Author, publisher and librarian Celeste West, famed for her activism and as an editor of the book The Revolting Librarians, interspersed images from the collection through the issues of Synergy.]



As you can see from the newsletter cover above, the images in the collection were created using block print technology. From the beginning of the 19th century, lithography or prints using wooden blocks revolutionized commercial publishing. The Etching and Engraving Picture makes use of imagery from the popular illustrated magazines of that time along with individual prints and engravings.

With the advent and growing availability of photography images like these became thought of as old-fashioned and anachronistic. They did find favor among collage artists like the surrealist Max Ernst or in the “paste-ups” by San Francisco artist Jess.

One of the virtues of the images of this collection is that they are entirely copyright free. In his book Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood, author Bill Hayes credits our Etching and Engraving Picture File for this image of Leonardo da Vinci. Since there is no legal reason to credit this public domain collection, there is no way of knowing how many other books we have helped to illustrate.


Left: Picture file reproduction in Five Quarts; Right: Image from the Picture file.

These images are also provide inspiration for visual artists. Children’s book illustrator K-Fai Steele credits this collection for inspiring the artwork in his book Okapi Tale, authored by Jacob Kramer. In an interview Steele noted that:

The cover is one of my favorite drawings from the book. When I was doing research for the visual world, in particular the Okapi’s factory, I started by looking at images from mills and mill towns in New England using the Etching and Engraving Picture File Collection at the San Francisco Public Library.

from the folder ”Mills and Mill-Work”

We have had patrons use images from the Etching and Engraving Picture to help them design restaurant menus or to provide inspiration for a tattoo. We treat the images like reference items requiring collateral ID while they are being used in the Library. While the Library does have excellent scanners for patrons to use, we do circulate individual images from our reference desk to library card holders.

Keep the Etching and Engraving Picture File in mind whenever you or a patron need artistic inspiration or if you want to take a little time to disappear down a visual rabbit hole.