he Institute Archives serves as the collective memory of Caltech by preserving the papers, documents, artifacts and pictorial materials that tell the school's history, from 1891 to the present. Researchers will also find here a wealth of sources for the history of science and technology worldwide, stretching from the time of Copernicus to today.		  
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Namazu-e (catfish print)
PhotoNet Image Archive
According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e ("catfish pictures") appeared. In this picture, the god of the Kashima Shrine, shown in the background, holds the catfish in check with his sword. It was while the god was travelling that the Namazu escaped and wreaked havoc. From a set of Namazu-e donated by Professor George W. Housner.
Photo above is from the Caltech Archives' PhotoNet, an online, searchable database of thousands of images.