Being a librarian now means also being at least a part-time social worker

At San Francisco’s main branch, a balance of outreach and keeping a lookout

For more than 100 years, SoMa has been home to the homeless

Waves of new residents want that to change

How America’s homeless went from mobile work force to urban blight

Once, they were just individuals with nowhere to live

‘Gone With the Wind’ sparked an Old South craze that united white America

Even though at its Atlanta premiere, young Martin Luther King Jr. was dressed up as a slave (seriously)

1961: Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine

This famous recording shows us the roots of Reagan’s policies (or lack thereof) on homelessness

San Francisco’s ‘Sadobabies’ street kids in the 1980s

A close look at the tightly knit subculture of homeless teens

The affair is over, but the word ‘Benghazi’ will forever connote conspiracy

From Roswell to grassy knoll, every conspiracy theory has its shibboleth

The failure of the first major San Francisco homeless policy

Mayor Agnos cleared out Civic Center Plaza in 1990, helped no one, and doomed his career

Hobo Lore in the Great Depression

The culture of the vagrant examined

A 1938 transcript from the Farm Security Administration (FSA) project documenting “hobo culture” through years of interviews around the country.

At the Salvation Army in 1928, homeless men wore suits and hats

Splitting kindling in SoMA

Reagan’s toxic legacy

December 23, 1988: We aren’t responsible

Even in 1906, homeless people camped in Golden Gate Park

In this case, they were displaced by the Great Earthquake

Homeless man under the Bay Bridge, 1964

This image was first published in the S.F. News-Call Bulletin. Alongside it ran the copy…

Brother, can you spare 11 cents, for a bottle of wine?

Panhandling on Howard Street in 1941

Homeless in front of City Hall, 1906

City Hall has been a magnet for homeless encampments for more than 100 years