Oakland Public Library, African American Museum and Library at Oakland

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.

The Emma Lee and Jimmie Adams Papers include personal and business correspondence, financial records, legal records, programs, postcards, business cards, and printed material documenting the personal and business activities of Emma Lee and Jimmie Adams. The papers are organized into five series: correspondence, financial records, legal records, religious activities, and printed material. The bulk of the papers is personal correspondence written to Emma Lee Adams from various relatives in Louisiana, Texas, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. Many of the letters are from Emma Lee’s sisters, parents, and cousins and discuss general family matters such as weddings, births, illnesses, and work life.

The African American Museum & Library at Oakland Audiovisual Collection consists of 106 audiocassettes, 72 videotapes, 2 CD-Rs, and 2 seven inch reel audiotapes. The audiovisual collection consists of materials acquired by the African American Museum & Library at Oakland, and its predecessor the Northern California Center for Afro-American History & Life. The collection is organized into 16 series by format or subject, and includes recordings of significant African Americans such J. Rupert Picott and Byron Rumford, oral histories with significant African American families and civil rights leaders, and documents various topics related to African American history, culture and experience.

The African American Museum & Library at Oakland Oral History Collection consists of 79 oral history interviews conducted in 2002-2007. The interviews were initially conducted by the AAMLO Coalition, a group of volunteers and supporters of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland, which interviewed prominent and long-time Oakland residents in the fields of education, performing arts, politics and religion.

The African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection consists of 2,329 photographs documenting African Americans in California between 1869-2008. The photograph collection consists of photographs donated to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland, and its predecessor the East Bay Negro Historical Society. The collection is organized into 28 series by subject, and includes photographs of significant African Americans such Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Byron Rumford, and documents various aspects of the African American community in Oakland including athletics, business, churches, civil rights, early pioneers, entertainment, military, fraternal and women's organizations.

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).

The African Americans Affected by the East Bay Hills Fire Oral History Collection was an oral history project undertaken by the African American Museum & Library at Oakland. The African Americans Affected by the East Bay Hills Fire Oral History Collection consists of 10 interviews conducted from 1993 to 1995 with African Americans who were living in the East Bay during the Oakland hills firestorm of October 1991.

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.

The William Duncan Allen papers include photographs, certificates, plaques, and a diploma documenting the life and career of concert pianist, teacher, and music critic William Duncan Allen. The bulk of the papers consist of 288 photographs of Allen's music colleagues and friends at receptions in the Bay Area and while traveling in Europe in 1975-1977.

The Louis J. Avelino Papers consist of photographs, ephemera, military medals, and documents related to Avelino’s participation in the International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union.