Documenting Nineteenth-Century Quartz Mining in Northern California

Documentation strategies have been suggested as tools aiding in identification of contemporary records of historical value. They might also be fruitfully applied to historical topics. Quartz mining for gold in California during the nineteenth century provides an example of the potential for retrospective application of documentation strategy. The article describes the historical phenomenon, discusses the importance of a theoretical framework that views organizations as parts of complex networks, analyzes the range of potentially available documentation, and suggests a means of implementation.