Women

Educator, author, and actor Ruth Acty (1913-1998) was the first African American teacher hired by the Berkeley Unified School District in 1943. The Ruth Acty papers include curriculum material, teaching notes, writings, photographs, awards, legal and financial records, and correspondence that document her life and activities as a teacher and author. Dates: 1927-2001 Collection number: MS 38 Creator: Acty, Ruth, 1913-1998 Collection Size: 9.5 linear feet (16 boxes + 1 oversized box) Guide to the Ruth Acty Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

The African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection consists of programs, flyers, correspondence, posters, pamphlets, and ephemera collected by the African American Museum & Library at Oakland. The East Bay Negro Historical Society began vertical files in the late 1960s, collecting ephemera and newspaper clippings about African American history and culture. The vertical files are arranged alphabetically by subject, organization, or last name, and include correspondence, programs, flyers, and pamphlets mostly about African American organizations and cultural institutions in the Oakland and the East Bay during the mid-20th century (1940s-1970s). Dates: 1828-2017   Collection number: MS 179   Collector: African American Museum & Library at Oakland   Collection Size: 61.5 linear feet (82 boxes + 13 oversized boxes)   Guide to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1895-1987   Collection number: MS 108   Creator: Albrier, Frances Mary, 1898-1987.   Collection Size: 7.9 linear feet (7 boxes + 2 oversized boxes)   Guide to the Frances Albrier Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Social activist Frances Albrier (1898-1987) was born on September 21, 1898 in Mt. Vernon, New York to Lewis L. and Laura Redgray. During the late 1930s, Albrier became active in a number of different political and civil rights issues. In 1938, she became the first woman elected to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. The following year she became the first woman to run for the Berkeley City Council, led the Citizen’s Employment Council’s “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” campaign, and organized the East Bay Women's Welfare Club, a women’s group which advocated for the hiring of black teachers in the Berkeley Unified School District. During the 1940s, she continued to be active in a number of women's, civil rights, and union organizations while serving as a first aid instructor in the American Red Cross. After her application to become a welder was denied because Black workers did not have an auxiliary union in Richmond, she garnered political pressure in the Black community forcing Kaiser Shipyards to hire her making her the first black woman welder during the war. The Frances Albrier papers include correspondence, legal and financial records, awards, photographs, records of civic organizations and women’s clubs, and assorted printed material documenting Albrier life and participation in various civic organizations and women’s clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

The Paula Beal Papers consist of notebooks, subject files, reports, correspondence, flyers, and periodicals documenting her activities with housing activist and food justice groups in Oakland, California in the 2010s. Dates: 2003-2017   Collection number: MS 221   Creator: Beal, Paula   Collection Size: 2 linear feet (2 boxes + 1 oversized box)   Guide to the Paula Beal Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

The Ruth Beckford Papers include dance programs, correspondence, lesson plans, oral histories, manuscripts, newspapers clippings, and photographs documenting Beckford’s career as a noted African-Haitian dancer, actress, and teacher. View online items Dates: 1915-1998   Collection number: MS 60   Creator: Beckford, Ruth.   Collection Size: 11.5 linear feet (22 boxes + 1 oversized box)   Guide to the Ruth Beckford Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1982-1997   Bulk Dates: (bulk 1994-1997)   Collection number: MS 152   Creator: Black Women Stirring the Waters (Oakland, Calif.)   Creator: Butler, Mary Ellen, 1940-   Collection Size: .75 linear feet (2 boxes)   Guide to the Black Women Stirring the Waters Collection Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Black Women Stirring the Waters is a Black women’s discussion group founded in 1984 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The group was conceived by Clara Stanton Jones, the first African American to head the public library of a major city and the first African American president of the American Library Association, and Aileen Clarke Hernandez, activist, and former President of the National Organization for Women (NOW). The group was organized with no formal structure, no taboo subjects, and no requirements for membership other than an interest in the dialog. Black Women Stirring the Waters takes its name from a quote attributed to the 19th century abolitionist, Sojourner Truth. In 1997, forty-four members of the group published a collection of autobiographical memoirs discussing ways they have dealt with obstacles and have grown in their lives and careers. The Black Women Stirring the Waters Collection includes contributing authors’ manuscripts and correspondence, history and records of the group, and audio recordings. The collection documents the creation of the organization’s 1997 publication, Black Women Stirring the Waters.  We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1902-1994   Collection number: MS 1   Creator: Netherland, Mary C.   Creator: Dixon, Lillian   Collection Size: 2.5 ft. (5 boxes)   Guide to the Colored Women's Clubs Associations Collection Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) View online items The records included within this collection trace the histories of three different associations of colored women's clubs: the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs; the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs; and the National Council of Negro Women. Records within this collection document the history, organization, and activities of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs, and the National Council of Negro Women. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

The Ebell Society of Oakland was a prominent Oakland women's club. It was founded in 1876 with a mission to advance cultural and scientific learning among its members and to promote civic improvement in Oakland. Its namesake and inspiration was Dr. Adrian J. Ebell, a scientist whose lecture tours inspired the creation of similar clubs around the country. In early 2000 the club merged with another longstanding Oakland women's club, the Lakeview Club, to become the Ebell Lakeview Women's Club. The club disbanded in 2011.   The collection is composed primarily of scrapbooks and albums containing meeting announcements and minutes, newspaper clippings and photographs, and is organized in four parts: I. Ebell Society (1876-2000); II. Lakeview Club (1904-2000); III. Ebell Lakeview Women's Club (2000-2011); and IV. Assorted Ebell/Lakeview artifacts.   (OHC COLL 2019-5) 20 boxes (11 linear feet) Go here for a more detailed list of this collection's contents.  Available at Oakland History Center, Main Library.  

Helene Everly (b. 1928), Afro-German émigré who grew up in Nazi Germany, was born Helene Brell in Munich, Germany on March 18, 1928. The Helene Everly Collection consists of four audiocassettes containing oral history interviews with Helene Everly conducted by Robert L. Haynes, seven photographs depicting WWII scenes and portraits of Helene Everly and her cousin Max Brell, and copies of the article "A Black Woman's Experience in Hitler's Germany" by Nicole Atkinson. View online items Dates: 1995-1996   Collection number: MS 148   Creator: Everly, Helene. African American Museum & Library at Oakland.   Collection Size: .25 linear foot (1 box)   Guide to the Helene Everly Collection Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

  Primarily meeting minutes of the Glenview Woman's Club (sometimes called Glenview Women's Club), first organized on May 14, 1914. Meeting minutes were kept in their original order with most folders in direct chronological order and a few in reverse order. Between 1926 and 1953 meeting minutes include the Corporation minutes as well as those of the club as a whole. Other materials include letters relating to the sale of the clubhouse in 1989, a photograph of the club's founding members, and a club history, "A book of memories," compiled by J. Edith MacNaughton in 1952 which features short historical narratives from many of the club's past presidents. The clippings books also contain club handbooks, which include member directories and treasurer's reports, for the 1926-27 and 1929-30 club years.   (OHC COLL 2017-3) 4 boxes, 1.2 linear feet Go here for a more detailed list of this collection's contents.  Available at Oakland History Center, Main Library.  

Dates: 1929-1988   Collection number: MS 16   Collection Size: .25 linear feet (1 box)   Guide to the Charlotte Harris Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) The Charlotte Harris Papers include photographs, postcards, church programs, and awards related to the activities of the Harris and Fletcher families. The bulk of the collection is photographs of family and friends of Charlotte Harris in Seattle, Washington and Berkeley, California. There are also group photographs of the Ladies of Leisure, an African American women's social club in Berkeley, California. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Journalist and peace activist Erna P. Harris (1908-1995) was born on June 29, 1908 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma to James E. and Francis Harris. The Erna P. Harris Papers consists of photographs of family and friends of Erna P. Harris, Gaynelle Harris’ certificates attending school in Enid, Oklahoma, and assorted printed material. Photographs include a few portraits of Erna Harris, though the majority of the photographs are portraits of Harris family and friends. The papers also include Erna Harris’ funeral program, an address book, a book review, a recipe for banana angel food cake, and assorted political and CO-OP buttons. Dates: circa 1890s-1995   Collection number: MS 54   Creator: Harris, Erna P.   Collection Size: .5 linear feet (1 box)   Guide to the Erna P. Harris Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

The Clarice Isaacs papers include assorted letters, thank you cards, and postcards from family and friends of Clarice Isaacs and two plaques awarded to Isaacs from the Circle of Positive Women and the YMCA Century Club. Dates: 1942-1987   Collection number: MS 101   Creator: Isaacs, Clarice   Collection Size: .25 linear feet (1 box)   Guide to the Clarice Isaacs Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Research notes, manuscripts, and publication-related materials created and compiled by author Josephine DeWitt Rhodehamel in relation to her 1973 book Ina Coolbrith, Librarian and Laureate of California.   (OHC COLL 2025-1)   70 folders and 6 card files in 14 boxes (10.8 linear feet)   Go here for a more detailed list of this collection's contents.  Available at Oakland History Center, Main Library. 

(OHC COLL 2021-2) 2 boxes (1.5 linear feet) Browse a detailed list of this collection's contents.  Available at Oakland History Center, Main Library.   The Ladies' Relief Society of Oakland, California was incorporated in 1872 to provide relief to destitute women and children. The society organized annual festivals to raise funds and attract donors, and over the years established a home for aged women, and children's home and nursery. Renamed the Ladies' Home Society in 1956, the society disbanded in 2007. The focus of the collection is the society's children's home, and includes a logbook  documenting admissions to the children's home from 1890 to 1913. Also included in the collection is a children's home visitors register (1883-1909) and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the Ladies' Relief Society (1915-1932, 1955-1972).  

The Barbara Lee Papers consist of legislative bills and working files, correspondence, speeches, constituent case files, audiovisual material, subject and administrative files documenting Barbara Lee’s six years as state assemblywoman for California’s 16th District, two years as a state senator for California’s 9th District, and records created by the California Commission on the Status of Black Males (CCSBM). Dates: 1977-1998   Bulk Dates: 1991-1998   Collection number: MS 086   Creator: Lee, Barbara, 1946-   Collection Size: 80 linear feet (80 boxes)   Guide to the Barbara Lee Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

    Dates: 1938-1994   Collection number: MS 55   Creator: Middleton, Bernice.   Collection Size: .5 linear feet (1 box)   Guide to the Bernice Middleton Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Bernice Middleton (1915-2002) was born in 1915 in Arkansas to Rev. T.J. and Pearline Middleton. After graduating with an R.N. license from the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps she moved to California where she worked as a nurse in the armed forces. Following the outbreak of World War II, she moved to San Francisco to work at a veterans’ hospital in 1943. After working as a nurse at various hospitals and private practices in San Francisco in the 1940s, she returned to school at Wilberforce University in Ohio and after graduation took a position as Assistant Dean of Women at Morris Brown University in Atlanta, Georgia in 1953. Returning to California, she was appointed Dean of Girls at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, where she taught for the next seven years, before teaching at Ceres Unified School District (1960-1967) and Modesto Junior College. The Bernice Middleton papers include certificates, correspondence, photographs, meeting minutes, funeral programs, newspaper clippings, and a handwritten autobiography documenting the life and career of Bernice Middleton (1915-2002). We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

(OHC MSS KNOX) 10 folders (.3 linear feet) Go here for a more detailed list of this collection's contents.  Available at Oakland History Center, Main Library.  Letters to and from Minnie Knox, mostly discussing the publication of her poetry, as well as programs, bulletins, and speeches relating to her involvement in several local clubs, articles, short stories, poetry, speeches and address by Minnie Knox, and some photographs of her, including portraits and images from Poets' Dinners and other events. California Writers' Club materials are primarily issues of their monthly Bulletin while those of the College Women's Club relate primarily to addresses she gave at their 30th and 50th anniversary dinners. The Poets' Dinner materials consist primarily of place cards, place card rhymes, and typescript copies of the "coronation" speeches given by Minnie Knox over the years. Several of the speeches and addresses relate to her involvement with the American Legion and Daughters of the American Revolution. Poet Minnie Faegre Knox was born on April 20, 1886, in Flandreau, South Dakota, and received her post-secondary education at the University of Minnesota (graduating in 1908). She married Walter K. Knox 1909 and they eventually settled in Oakland, California, where she wrote poems and plays and joined clubs in the area. Minnie Knox was an editor of the California Writers' Club and a member of the College Woman's Club of Berkeley and the Daughters of the American Revolution, among other organizations. She died on December 12, 1980, at age ninety-four and is buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.

Dates: circa 1870s-1912   Collection number: MS 41   Creator: Netherland, Mayme C.   Collection Size: 1.25 linear feet (2 boxes + 1 oversize)   Guide to the Mayme C. Netherland Collection Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Mayme (Mary) C. Netherland (1877-1973) was born to Oscar Thomas Jackson and Mary Ellen Jackson (née Scott) in Oakland, California. Her maternal grandfather, John Scott (1815-1916), was born a slave in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. At the age of 23, he escaped and joined a band of Cherokee Indians. During this time, he helped other slaves escape along the Underground Railroad. After two years of freedom, Scott was caught and sold to Lieutenant Hoskins of the U.S. Army. Scott served alongside Hoskins in the Mexican-American War and was a member of John C. Fremont’s 1844 expedition to California. At the end of the expedition, Scott escaped again and found a rich gold mine in Calaveras County. The Mayme C. Netherland Photograph Collection includes 41 photographs of friends and family of Mayme C. Netherland. Included in the collection are circa 1880s-1900s tin-type portraits and cabinet card portraits of African American women and men, as well as photographs of Netherland’s grandfather, father and husbands. View online items We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1922-2005   Bulk Dates: 1963-1996   Collection number: MS 169   Creator: Oakland post.   Collection Size: 56 linear feet (116 boxes + 1 oversized box)   Guide to the Oakland Post Photograph Collection Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) The Oakland Post Photograph Collection consists of 11,000 photographs appearing in the Oakland Post newspaper between 1963-2005. A majority of the photographs are portraits of African American politicians, business and community leaders, entertainers, athletes, and community and social groups from Oakland, California. The collection documents significant social and political events in Oakland, California, including social protest movements during the 1960s-1980s, festivals and sporting events, visits to Oakland, California by notable figures such as Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton, and activities of Oakland politicians. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1958-1963, 1991   Collection number: MS 214   Creator: Par-Links Golf Club.   Collection Size: .25 linear feet (1 box)   Guide to the Par-Links Golf Club Scrapbook Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) The Par-Links Golf Club was founded by fifteen African-American women golfers of the East Bay on September 12, 1958. The collection consists of one scrapbook documenting the first six years of the club’s existence from 1958-1963. It encompasses the bylaws of the Par-Links Golf Club, tournament committee reports, an application for membership form, a history of the organization, newspaper clippings, two studio photographs of the charter members, and nineteen photographs of the club participating in a golf tournament. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1935-1995   Collection number: MS 147   Creator: Phyllis Wheatley Club of the East Bay   Collection Size: 2.5 linear feet (3 boxes + 1 oversized)   Guide to the Phyllis Wheatley Club of the East Bay Records Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Named after African American poet Phillis Wheatley (c.1754 – 1784), the Phyllis Wheatley Club of the East Bay was founded in 1914 by Mrs. Fred Williams and Hettie B. Tilghman. The original intent of the club was to cultivate young black women and encourage their contributions to the community. Over the next two decades, it quickly became a charitable organization focused on fundraising efforts that supported local organizations, community services, and programs in the East Bay. The Phyllis Wheatley Club of the East Bay Collection includes administrative records, correspondence, event invitations and programs. Administrative records consist of the club’s constitution and by-laws, meeting minutes and financial ledgers. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: circa 1910s-1972   Collection number: MS 212   Collector: Martin Pinder, Jean M.   Collection Size: .75 linear feet (1 box)   Guide to the Jean M. Martin Pinder Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Jean M. Martin Pinder (1916-2014) was among the first African American women to graduate from the Yale School of Public Health and an advocate for health education policy and population family planning policy in pre- and early post-Independence-era Africa. The Jean M. Martin Pinder papers consist of various certificates and recognitions, photographs of Simms Martin family members, and a copy of Pinder’s 1935 San Francisco State University Franciscan yearbook inscribed by classmates and faculty. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1869-1992   Bulk Dates: 1917-1992   Collection number: MS 46   Creator: Pittman, Tarea Hall.   Creator: Pittman, William.   Collection Size: 12.25 linear feet (29 boxes + 1 oversized box)   Guide to the Tarea Hall and William Pittman Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Noted civil rights leader, social worker, and radio personality Tarea Hall Pittman (1903-1991) was born in 1903 in Bakersfield, California to William and Susie Hall. In the 1930s, Pittman became active in civil rights organizations, serving as president of the California State Association of Colored Women’s Clubs from 1936-1938, organizing West Coast branches of the National Negro Congress, and hosting the radio program, Negroes in the News, on KDIA in Oakland, California which she would continue to host for over 45 years through the 1970s. She was an active member of the NAACP serving in various roles as an officer of the Alameda County Chapter of the NAACP, Regional Director of the West Coast Region, and Regional Acting Secretary of the NAACP. Pittman is a central West Coast figure in the Colored Women's Club movement, in addition to her work around significant civil rights issues including organizing protests to force war industries to hire African American workers during World War II, fighting to abolish the segregation of the Oakland Fire Department in 1952, and lobbying for the passage of fair employment practices legislation in California, Arizona, Alaska, and Nevada. The Tarea Hall and William Pittman Papers includes photographs, correspondence, awards, certificates, financial and legal records, newspaper clippings, programs, and ephemera documenting the life and career of William Pittman and Tarea Hall Pittman. View online items We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1921-1991   Collection number: MS 28   Creator: Proctor, Eudora C., 1917-1993.   Collection Size: 3.75 linear feet (7 boxes)   Guide to the Eudora C. Proctor Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Performer and dance instructor Eudora “Dodo” Proctor (1917-1993) was born on September 29, 1917 to Clyde Proctor and Ellen Proctor. The Eudora Proctor Papers includes photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, musical programs, songbooks, and legal and financial records related to Proctor’s career as an entertainer, member of the USO, cosmetologist, and creator of the Eudora National S.L. E. Organization, a non-profit lupus organization. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

History, directory calendars, and other materials from the Rockridge Woman's Club, founded in 1911 in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. Initially the club was a women's auxiliary to the men-only Vernon-Rockridge Improvement Club. Its first clubhouse, on Keith Avenue, was demolished in the 1960s to make way for freeway construction, and was replaced by a second clubhouse on Chabot Road. The club disbanded in the early 2000s.   (OHC COLL 2015-22) 3 boxes (1.1 linear feet) Go here for a more detailed list of this collection's contents.  Available at Oakland History Center, Main Library.  

The Ruth Strange Papers include 13 photographs of friends and family of Ruth Strange. The collection includes two class photographs of the Hawthorne School in Oakland, California taken in 1922 and 1924, and also a photograph of Captain Roger Romaine, a Tuskegee Airman and member of the 99th Fighter Squadron during World War II. There is also manuscript on the genealogy of the Allen family written by Ruth Strange in 1990. Dates: 1912-1990   Collection number: MS 35   Creator: Strange, Ruth.   Collection Size: .25 linear feet (1 box)   Guide to the Ruth Strange Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1906-1971   Collection number: MS 51   Creator: Wells, Robertha J.   Collection Size: .2 linear feet (1 box + 1 oversized box)   Guide to the Robertha J. Wells Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) The Robertha J. Wells Papers include education material, certificates, programs, employment records, ephemera, and photographs documenting Robertha J. Wells, Earle Keikikane and the Wells family. The papers include diplomas, programs, and term papers documenting Robertha J. Wells education career, certificates, ephemera, and employment records related to Earle Keikikane’s career as a sailor and two poems written by Keikikane, and 15 photographs mostly of Wells’ mother and father, Robert E. Wells and Anna Abigail Jenkins Wells, in Bakersfield, California and Pasadena, California in the 1900-1910s. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

(OHC COLL 2020-7)  7 boxes (3.57 linear feet) Browse a detailed list of this collection's contents.  Available at Oakland History Center, Main Library.   The West Oakland Home for Foundlings and Needy Children was founded by Rebecca McWade in the 1880s. She and a circle of women, initially known as the Little Workers of East and West Oakland, established the home on Campbell Street in West Oakland. Unlike similar facilities of the time, the home was nonsectarian and open to all races. In 1930 the home moved to a new location on Lincoln Boulevard and was renamed the Lincoln Child Center. The records in this collection are mainly logbooks of child admissions listing name, age, nationality, religion, orphan status, dates entered and discharged, and brief remarks for each child. The collection also includes Board minutes (1903-1924), an annual report (1912) and children's case letters (1899?-1905).        

Publisher and media consultant Rhonda White-Warner (1951-2014) was born on July 7, 1951 in Oakland, California. After graduating from Oakland Technical High School in 1969, she attended California State University Hayward graduating with a bachelor of science in child development in 1975. She began her career in the Oakland arts community in 1974 as a program director for the Alameda County Neighborhood Arts Program coordinating and offering technical assistance to Alameda County cultural organizations. In 1977, she was hired as a public information specialist for the City of Oakland’s Office of Parks and Recreation writing press releases and advertising the department’s cultural and recreational programs. By 1981 she created her first media consulting and event planning agency, Authenic Vint’age Promotions, contracting with local artists to assist with graphic design, media advertising, and event planning. The Rhonda White-Warner papers consist of consulting project files, subject files, photographs, back issues and administrative files of Tidbits magazine, administrative files and theatrical programs of the Oakland Ensemble Theatre, and assorted printed material largely documenting the African American performing arts community in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s and 1980s. Dates: circa 1950s-1996   Bulk Dates: 1980-1996   Collection number: MS 144   Creator: White-Warner, Rhonda.   Collection Size: 12.5 linear feet (11 boxes + 1 oversized box)   Guide to the Rhonda White-Warner Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1924-1993   Creator: Wyatt, Faricita Hall   Collection Size: 1.5 linear feet (3 boxes)   Guide to the Faricita Hall Wyatt Papers Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) Educator, poet, and artist Faricita Hall Wyatt (1912-1993) was born on October 29, 1912 to William M. Hall and Susie Sylindia Pinkney Hall. Wyatt published two books of poetry The River Must Flow (1965) and By the Banks of the River (1974) and was also an accomplished painter. The Faricita Hall Wyatt Papers include correspondence, poetry manuscripts, photographs, awards, and guest books that document the life and career of Faricita Hall Wyatt. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.

Dates: 1919-1977   Creator: East Bay Negro Historical Society.   Collection Size: .25 linear feet (1 box)   Guide to the Young Women's Christian Association Collection Available at the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) View online items The Young Women's Christian Association Collection consists of correspondence, event invitations and programs, meeting minutes, constitution and by-laws, and publications of the Young Women's Christian Association of Oakland collected by the East Bay Negro Historical Society. The collection is organized into two series: YWCA of Oakland and Assorted national YWCA publications. The bulk of the YWCA of Oakland series is administrative records of the Linden St. and Market St. branches of the YWCA of Oakland, the two black branches of the YWCA in Oakland, California. The administrative records include the Linden St. branch constitution and by-laws, meeting minutes, and programs and invitation to events held at the Linden St. branch. Publications include a transcript of a 1934 speech delivered by Ernestine Bryant, “The architectural mode of life” and YWCA of Oakland reports and newsletters. The assorted national YWCA publications series includes a March 1960 edition of the The Phyllis Wheatley Reporter newsletter and a 1949 YWCA pamphlet, Interracial policies of the Young Women’s Christian Associations of the United States of America. We encourage researchers to contact AAMLO before visiting so that we can be prepared to assist you. Please call 510-637-2000 or email aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org to arrange an appointment or inquire about access.