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 history and experience in the City of Alameda.
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.
A printable PDF version of this resource guide is available for download.
Selected Library Materials
Alameda: A Geographical History by Imelda Merlin
“Commonly referred to as ‘The Bible,’ this was Imelda Merlin’s dissertation to earn her Masters degree from UC Berkeley.” - Alameda Museum
Selected Archival Collections
Includes a VHS copy of "From our hands and hearts: African American history of Alameda," produced by the Alameda Historical Society, circa 1990s
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Oral History Collection. The African American Museum & Library at Oakland Oral History Collection includes 79 oral history interviews conducted in 2002-2007.
Includes an oral history interview with Alice Royal discussing her family's history, growing up in Alameda and historic Allensworth, California, the African American community in West Oakland, and attending nursing training at Highland Hospital.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection.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.
Includes
Box 80:13: Housing / "Alameda is our home: African Americans and the struggle for housing in Alameda, California 1860 -present," by Reginald L. James (Rasheed Shabazz) 2013
Box 36:17: Military / A handbook for air raid wardens, auxiliary firemen, auxiliary police, fire watchers Alameda Defense Council, Alameda, California circa 1940s
Hackett Family Papers. The Hackett family immigrated to San Francisco in 1885, when James Alexander Hackett along with his wife, Alice, and daughter, Sadie, came to San Francisco in search of employment at the advice of his first cousin, Charles Calvin Petty, a pastor at Starr King Zion Church in San Francisco, California. Two brothers of James Alexander, Sylvester R. and Charles C. Hackett, would both also move to California.
James Alexander and Alice Hackett (née Hickerson) were one of the first African American families to settle in Alameda, California, where they eventually constructed a house at 1608 Union St. and resided with their twelve children, Sadie, Nora, Myrtle, Luther, Arthur J., Latrecia, Paul, Teresa, Lincoln, Alice E., Grace E., and Josephine.
The Hackett Family Papers consist of mostly portrait photographs of family members and friends and assorted printed material that includes short biographies of members of the family, a photocopy of a diploma of Tyra D. Hackett, an appointment book, and a collection of calendars. [Online items]
Ida Hill Photograph Collection. The Ida Hill Photograph Collection includes 29 photographs of various members of the Hill and Robinson families, group photographs of African American masons, and Dicy Robinson’s memorial card. A bulk of the collection are family photographs of William and Ida Hill and their children William Hill Jr., Alfred Hill, and Beverly Hill in Oakland and Alameda, California
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.
