Archival Collections
AAMLO's archival collection is a unique resource on the history of African Americans in Northern California and the Bay Area.
Use this site to explore descriptions, finding aids, inventories and digitized content from archives held by the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO).
Finding aids are available in the Online Archive of California, opens a new window and digitized items in Calisphere, opens a new window.
AAMLO's Archives has compiled research guides on the following topics to assist new researchers with finding primary and secondary sources. They are designed to serve entry level research and for researchers preparing to visit the archives.
The archive includes over 160 collections documenting prominent:
- families
- pioneers
- churches
- social and political organizations
AAMLO's oral history collection includes interviews with:
- local civil rights activists
- educators
- writers
- musicians
- the Eternal Voices video library, containing more than 80 years of African American East Bay history
The microfilm collection includes:
- newspapers such as Freedom's Journal, The Liberator, The People's Voice, Muhammad Speaks, and The Colored American Magazine
- WPA slave narratives from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee
- FBI Investigation Files on Marcus Garvey, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Elijah Muhammad, and W.E.B. DuBois
- Military enlistment records of African Americans serving in the armed forces
- California census records, 1910-1930
and others.
Visit AAMLO
659 14th Street
Oakland
(510) 637-0200
aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org
Hours
Monday: 10:00am to 5:30pm
Tuesday: 10:00am to 5:30pm
Wednesday: 10:00am to 5:30pm
Thursday: 10:00am to 5:30pm
Friday: 12:00pm to 5:30pm
Saturday: 10:00am to 5:30pm
Archival Collections at AAMLO
Wells (Robertha J.) Papers
Phyllis Wheatley Club of the East Bay Records
Black Feminism
AAMLO on the Internet Archive
Wyatt (Faricita Hall) Papers
Williams (Henry) Jr. Film Collection
Wells (Robertha J.) Papers
Twomey (Michael) Music Collection
Schaupp (Edward E.) Papers
Ruffin (Goldie Byrd) Collection
Proctor (Eudora C.) Papers
Pinder (Jean M. Martin) Papers
Pearman (Reginald) Photograph Collection
Page (Arthur R.) Collection
Newkirk (George L.) Papers
Mount Olive Baptist Church scrapbook
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