Oakland History Center

Oakland History Room at the Main Libraryhttp://www.oaklandlibrary.org/Seasonal/Sections/oakhr.htmlI LOVE Maps.All maps but especially old maps, you know the kind that come in huge books...I also LOVE Oakland.So this means I hella LOVE the Oakland History Room because it's filled with,you got it...Old Huge Map Books of Oakland!So a nerd like me can spend HOURS here looking stuff up. Some friends and I own Victorians here in Oakland and I was determined to see the original maps from when they were first built all in the 1800s. I overshot the year on my block at first but got to see the map of when Veniza Garden took up most of it. Then I saw the map when my home, the Cates-Downing house appeared and later the building where La Borinquena (my family's restaurant) exists now. It was a little more complicated to find my friend's house since I had to go back to when the Fruitvale district had not yet been annexed to Oakland and was still called Fruitvale, CA. His house was literally in the middle of a fruit orchard and was the main house for years. It also explained why there were so many windows both for natural light and to oversee the fields. The woman helping me find all this information was sweet, kind and incredibly PATIENT!There are also tons of books, photographs and enough maps to wallpaper for days. Go with lots of time on your hands and be respectful of the artifacts you may or may not be allowed to handle. Oh, the smell of old books can be intoxicating in a giddy, nerdy way or smell musty and not so good otherwise. Also note that the hours are strange everyday they are open.To my fellow Oakland history nerds who also like libraries...Go Forth.Research.Be Happy.

An amazing place for history or American Material Culture buffs. I "discovered" this place when writing a final paper at Cal that analyzed the contents excavated from a privy at 7th and Wood that dated back to the early 1800's. Fascinating stuff! They had so many valuable resources like Sanborn Insurance maps, old phone directories, maps, photos, etc. I got lost for hours at a time and still find myself coming back long after I graduated just to study about the history of this wonderful city called Oakland. Come get lost in Oakland's history at the Oakland History Room! You'll be surprised at what you can find out! Amazing!

Most Oaklanders haven't seen the MAIN anything in a while. Get out of the box and get this city back.Falling into old BAD patterns. Go see the old new places.

i hella love the oakland history room i,m a history buff i consider my self a historian and i can,t lie i,m obssesed with the history of my hometown i,ve been coming to the history room since 1997 and i have been coming ever since they have great newspaper clippings of past events in oakland also they have a file called chicano history files with a bunch of cool stuff about the local latino history also they have a lot of cool maps of oakland cool aireal pictures of oakland and also many cool books i have literally spent many hours here studying and xeroxing many things here i,m glad the oakland history room is here i,ve learned so much about my home town here also the librerian steven lavoie that runs the history is very helpful ....

Very helpful staff, and a treasure trove of historical information about our fair city! :)