Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.
This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO recognizing African American fashion and beauty culture.
It highlights holdings in the following areas:
● Selected Library Material at AAMLO
● Selected Archival Collections at AAMLO
Other collections may contain relevant materials. Please contact AAMLO (aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org) with any questions or to schedule an appointment to view materials in person.
Selected Library Materials
Threads of Time, the Fabric of History : Profiles of African American Dressmakers and Designers, 1850-2003 by Rosemary E. Reed Miller
Pleasure in the News : African American Readership and Sexuality in the Black Press by Kim T. Gallon
Styling Jim Crow : African American Beauty Training During Segregation by Julia Kirk Blackwelder
Cutting Along the Color Line : Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America by Quincy T. Mills
Blacks in the History of Fashion by Lois K. Alexander
Liberated Threads : Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul by Tanisha C. Ford
The Business of Black Power : Community Development, Capitalism, and Corporate Responsibility in Postwar America edited by Laura Warren Hill and Julia Rabig
The Season : A Social History of the Debutante by Kristen Richardson
Selected Archival Collections
Bayviewer Magazine Collection. The Bayviewer (1967-?) magazine collection consists of 20 issues of the Bayviewer and Lennie's Bayviewer magazine, a political and social magazine focused on the African American community in the San Francisco Bay Area. The magazine regularly featured advertisements by black-owned business and articles on local fashion trends, entertainment venues, politics, social organizations.
The Combination Magazine Collection. The Combination magazine collection includes 18 issues of The Combination magazine published between 1964-1970. The magazine includes photographs, short articles, and local advertisements on African American social organizations, entertainment, sports and fashion events in Northern California.
James E. Brackett Papers. The James E. Brackett papers include 91 photographs and Olive Brackett’s class notes and textbook attending Lee Ann’s Academy of Cosmetology in Oakland, California.
D. G. Gibson Papers. Following WWI, businessman and civic leader D. G. Gibson (1891-1973) moved to California in 1920 settling in the East Bay first as a real estate agent and then opening and operating one of the most successful distribution businesses on the West Coast, selling subscriptions for black newspapers, periodicals and cosmetic supplies. The D.G. Gibson papers consists of financial records, correspondence, and beauty product catalogs related to the business enterprises of D.G. Gibson.
Edom and Susie Horton Papers. The Edom and Susie Horton papers consist of beauty school coursework, shipyard worker training materials, photographs, and employment records. The beauty school coursework materials include Susie Horton’s class notes, exams, and textbook attending the La Henri-Ana School of Beauty Culture in Monroe, Louisiana in 1941.
Annette Starr Bruce Hudson Papers. Annette Starr Bruce Hudson (1920-2002) was born on March 16, 1920 to Elmer G. and Marguerite Starr in Oakland, California. After graduating from the Merle Norman Institute in 1953, she opened a Merle Norman Studio selling cosmetics and perfumes. In 1954, she opened a charm and modeling studio, Annette's Studio of Transformation, in Berkeley, California, which trained hundreds of graduates each year in personality development, voice and diction, wardrobe, modeling, makeup, hairstyling, figure control, visual poise, and social grace.
Ambrosia Wysinger Jones Papers. Ambrosia Wysinger Jones (1905-1999) was born on August 30, 1905 in Oakland, California. In the 1940s, she married Hillarie Jones and the two owned and operated a number of business enterprises, including a chain of barbershops in Oakland and ‘The Alameda’ Barbeque Pit and Union Barbershop in Alameda, California. In 1960, they started Charm Beauty College in Oakland becoming the first African Americans to own and operate a beauty college in Northern California. They also operated an additional beauty school in Richmond and started the first black travel agency, Charm Travel Agency, that catered to African Americans looking to vacation in Africa and the Caribbean.
Ruth Beckford Papers. Includes oral history interviews with barber Sydney James Scott. Topics discussed include his attending Moler Barber College in Oakland in 1934-1936, the first Black female barbers during World War II, cutting the hair of Paul Robeson, Count Basie, and other celebrities who stayed at the California Hotel, and serving as president of the California Barbers Association. Listen online
Oakland Post Photograph Collection. The Oakland Post Photograph Collection consists of 11,000 photographs appearing in the Oakland Post newspaper between 1963-2005.
Jay Payton Papers. Legendary Bay Area emcee Jay Payton (1925-2016) was born William J Payton on Oct. 29, 1925 in Asheville, North Carolina. Beginning in 1972 Payton hosted the KEMO-TV music show “Soul Is” (later “The Jay Payton Show”), a weekly entertainment show on Channel 20 featuring national and Bay Area African American musicians and performers. The Jay Payton Video Collection consists of 2 quad videotapes of “The Jay Payton Show” recorded in 1976.
Eudora C. Proctor Papers. Eudora “Dodo” Proctor (1917-1993) worked as a performer and dance instructor, and also held various positions as a nurse’s aide, clothing designer, and a beautician, eventually opening her own beauty parlor, Eudora’s House of Beauty, in Oakland in the 1950s. The Eudora Proctor Papers includes photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, musical programs, song books, 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.
Henry Delton Williams Papers. Henry Delton Williams (b. 1941), costume designer who crafted pieces for Motown and Hollywood stars, was born in Alexandria, Louisiana. The Henry Delton Williams Papers includes performance costumes, clothing, and accessories designed by Williams, as well as correspondence, clippings, photographs and assorted printed material documenting his career as a gospel singer and fashion designer.
Additional Information
Search the library using the catalog.
Consult AAMLO's finding aids in the Online Archive of California.
We are working to create new resource guides. Have an idea for a new guide? Contact us at aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org.
