Welcome to AlcatrazHistory.com! Alcatraz History was designed to help introduce you to the rich history of Alcatraz during the penitentiary years and many of the inmates who called "the Rock" home. From the mid 1930's until the mid 1960's, Alcatraz was America 's premier maximum-security prison, the final stop for the nation's most incorrigible inmates. Today, Alcatraz is a place of contradictions, with a grim past and an enduring future as one of San Francisco 's most prominent landmarks and tourist attractions.

AlcatrazHistory.com explores this history through brief narratives and photos, and serves as an excellent reference for researchers seeking a basic collection of information.

If you find that your interest and research needs go beyond the basic, we offer an exceptional reference book for $26.99. This mammoth reference contains one of the most definitive archives of both inmate and prison era photographs (as well as historical information) available. It is filled with a variety of rarely seen historical photos (nearly one-thousand) of which many are not currently available in any other books (NOTE: This web site contains primarily non-vintage photos with only a small sample of historical photographs).

Our featured product, available as a free download, is a digital ebook of an original set of the Alcatraz Rules & Regulations and a series of bonus materials, fully searchable and printable. The small ebook is free and is available immediately for download. Please follow the link at the top of this page if you would like more information. Also visit www.HistoryArchive.com for other historical subjects, including the historical reference entitled Letters from Alcatraz by book author Michael Esslinger.

Thank you for taking time to visit, and we hope you enjoy learning about the rich history of Alcatraz and its former residents. You can navigate our site by clicking the text-buttons on the left of this screen. The study reference "A History of Alcatraz," is a good starting point and covers the island's history in modest detail. By following each link you will find information on the most prominent subjects of the island's history. Each link has several sub-links, so be sure to take your time exploring. We hope you enjoy to your visit to Alcatraz …

“With this work I hope to bring that ideal one small step nearer, but no one realizes so well as I how far short of my goal I have fallen. The road stretches into the dim future, far beyond the possible accomplishments of any single lifetime, but if in this I have been able to point the direction and inspire others to carry on from the point where I have left off, I shall consider my efforts worthwhile.”

Robert F. Stroud (Birdman of Alcatraz )
June 1, 1937
Stroud’s Digest on the Diseases of Birds