Dioramas are coming back to the Main Library!
In 2025 the library hosted the first All the News That's Fit to Build: Local News Dioramas exhibit, featuring local-news-inspired dioramas created by our community. The exhibit was so popular that we're bringing it back in 2026! Dioramas are due between June 13 and July 5, so you have plenty of time to find the perfect newspaper article and craft your miniature world. Go here to find all the details about how to participate and to see the dioramas from 2025.
Like last year, you can base your diorama on any newspaper article you want, as long as it's about something that happened in Oakland or the East Bay. This year we've added a couple of optional special themes, so I wanted to share some tips on how to search for articles that might go with each theme.
The 1951 AwardThe Main Library's current building opened in January 1951, which means we're celebrating our 75th Anniversary this year. To qualify for the 1951 Award, your article should be about something that happened in Oakland in 1951. The easiest way to find an article from 1951 is to search using one of our newspaper databases: Newspapers.com, NewspaperArchive, and the California Digital Newspaper Collection all allow you to limit your search to a specific year. After entering 1951 in the "date" field for your search, you can start entering keyword searches. Note that the "location" field refers to the place of publication, not where an event occurred. Events that occurred in Oakland were covered by newspapers in other cities (and vice versa). If you want to limit your search to stories that occurred in the Town, using Oakland as a keyword will give you relevant results from a wider geographic area. If you want to try browsing microfilm, it's easy to do by date - just head to the Magazines & Newspapers Room and ask for help finding a reel from a local paper in 1951. |
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The Latinx Heritage AwardDid you know that the Chávez Branch (which started as the Latin American Library in 1966) was the first library in the United States to focus on service to Spanish-speaking communities? It's true! We're honoring the 60th anniversary of the branch with the Latinx Heritage Award. To enter this category, your article should be related to Latinx communities in Oakland. That's any community or community member with heritage in Latin America - from Mexico south to the tip of South America. Articles can be from any date. You can find an article for this category in the standard newspaper databases, but there are also more places to search! Spanish-language articles are definitely fair game, as long as they're about things that happened in Oakland. In the Oakland History Center's Community Newspapers File, we have many issues of El Mundo from the 1970s. Our vertical files are another easy place to start, as we have folders of clippings organized by the general topics "Latinos in Oakland," "Chicanos in Oakland," "East Bay Spanish-Speaking Citizens' Foundation," and more. We also have biographical files on notable people and OPL archives files about the Latin American Library / Chávez Branch. The Magazines & Newspapers Department has a Chicano Newspaper Collection both in print and on microfilm, which includes a wide variety of titles - mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the newspapers are published locally and have a focus on local news, and others have broader coverage of world events. A few titles published in the East Bay include El Mundo (Oakland/Berkeley), El Tiempo (Oakland), Mundo Hispano (Berkeley), La Hormiga (Oakland), La Cronica Latina (Berkeley), La Voz Catolica (Oakland), and Voz Del Pueblo (Hayward). Since these titles are not yet in our online catalog, we recommend stopping by during our Article Search Office Hours or making an appointment with Magazines & Newspapers staff to view them. |
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The Black Power AwardThe Black Panther Party formed in Oakland in 1966, and this award is in honor of the 60th anniversary of its founding. To enter this category, you should find an article related to the Black Panthers in Oakland. There are so many articles about the Black Panther Party, in all sorts of publications, but the Party's own newspaper The Black Panther (Black Community News Service or Intercommunal News Service) was such an important part of the BPP that it's definitely worth looking for articles there. This newspaper was the main communication tool for the Party, and helped spread their message worldwide. You can see the Black Panther newspapers in the Magazines & Newspapers Department, or online through Alexander Street's Black Thought and Culture Collection. The Black Panther included coverage of BPP Chapters all over the United States, as well as international affairs, so remember that your article needs to be about Oakland. Other local newspapers that covered the Black Panthers (besides the Oakland Tribune) include the California Voice and the Oakland Post - both available in the Magazines & Newspapers Department on microfilm. You can also consult our Index to Articles in the San Francisco Chronicle on the Black Panthers, 1967-1980 in the Oakland History Center or the Oakland Newspaper and Magazine Index online before heading to the microfilm in the Magazines & Newspapers Department. |
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All dioramas are eligible for prizes, but dioramas entered in the categories listed above have an extra chance to win.
If you want more help searching, you can come to the Search for Treasure in Old Newspapers program on April 18, or the Article Search Office Hours on Thursday evenings April 23-June 18. You can also call, email, or stop by the Oakland History Center or the Magazines & Newspapers Department any time the library is open.
If you have questions or need assistance at a different time, you can send us an email or call any time:
- Email: eanswers@oaklandlibrary.org
- Phone OHC: 510-238-3222
- Phone M&N: 510-238-3176
We can't wait to see what you find and what you create!
Add a comment to: New call for crafters! Make an Oakland history diorama!