From the Main Library

 May is National Bike Month, one of our favorite times of the year at Oakland Public Library. Did you know that bike usage has tripled in Oakland since 2000? We are a leading metro area for bicycle commuting nationwide. In fact, 4% of all Oakland commuters traveling to work and school go by bike. In celebration, and to encourage even more Oaklanders to get out and ride, we have a full slate of bike-related events for you! 

First things first: If you don't currently have a bike, the Library can help you get one! We're partnering with Cycles of Change to get more people on bikes - all you have to do is sign up at the West Oakland branch before May 21, and attend a safety training on May 27th at

Rounding out Women's History Month and our Rad American Women theme, we want to let you know that the Library of Congress has digitized and made available online its collection of papers and photographs on the life and career of Rosa Parks. The collection, which includes 7,500 manuscripts and 2,500 photographs, was purchased in 2014 by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and deposited at the Library of Congress on a 10 year loan. It has been open to in-person researchers for a year but is now accessible online to researchers worldwide as the Rosa Parks Papers. 

The contents of the Rosa Parks Papers are huge and wide-ranging. Mrs. Parks seems to have kept everything. The collection includes items such as a poll tax receipt, letters to her mother, recipes, and a

The houses many of us live in have long and fascinating histories. Some are architecturally distinguished, some have been moved from other locations, some are the former homes of important people. For those of you interested in finding out more about your house, a trip to the Oakland History Room (OHR) may answer your questions.

A first stop should be to OHR's Map Room where patrons can find their houses in tax assessment block books (1877-1925) and Sanborn Fire Insurance maps (1882-1951). There you can find out names of previous owners, property values, physical information about the house, and prior street names. Another important resource in the Map Room is the Oakland annexation map. The city grew by five annexations; knowing when your neighborhood became part of Oakland helps facilitate your search. Researchers can then consult Oakland city directories (in OHR's Main Room) to find out more about the owners. Some, for example, were contractors, possibly the builders of their properties. 

Further

Did you know that October is Family History Month? To mark the occasion, the Oakland History Room is sponsoring a series to celebrate families. Over the last week, we've held a family photo scanning day and an instructional program on how to determine the age and history of your house.

The next and final event, "Preserving Family Stories," will feature oral historian Nancy Thompson who will present an interactive workshop on collecting and preserving family histories. Participants will learn how to create family trees, how to conduct interviews and write oral histories, and how to use social histories, photographs and a variety of memorabilia to incorporate into your family history.

This event will be held Thursday, October 29 at 6 p.m. in the Walters Auditorium of the Main Library, 125 - 14th Street. For more information, contact the Oakland History Room