Made possible by a Friends of the Oakland Public Library mini-grant, Check Your Shelf: The Oakland Public Library Podcast, invites listeners to take an inside look at OPL. Community Relations Librarian Amy Martin brings you inside the walls to get to know the library as a friend. The first season will feature six episodes diving into the different places, programs, and initiatives that make OPL truly special.

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Episode 2: "Hello, AAMLO" Notes

Transcript coming soon.

The African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO) is located at 659 14th Street in Oakland.

• Saturday tours of AAMLO - Every Saturday at 4 PM. 
• Saturday Children's Story Hour - 1st and 3rd Saturdays each month at 11am. 
• See all exhibits and upcoming events on AAMLO's website.

Audio recordings used in Episode 2. Recordings included in this episode are used with permission from the African American Museum and Library at Oakland.

• Interview with Brownie McGhee [Tape #107]. "Good Morning Blues" starts at 0:09.
• May Day outtakes [0014] (Excerpt from Black Panthers' Free Huey rally, May 1969)
• Allensworth Advisory Committee Meeting, Allensworth, California - part 1 of 2 (Listen for Armilda Archer Smith)
• Tarea Hall Pittman birthday party, 1953
• Musical performance by blues musician Jesse Fuller at the Oakland Museum

A Mystery Reel of Film Arrives at AAMLO - photo essay featuring Sean Dickerson

AAMLO Collections Mentioned in Episode 2

• Brownie McGhee papers
• Black Panther Black Community News Service Collection
• Pullman Porters material can be found in many AAMLO collections, including:
  African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection
  Cottrell Laurence Dellums Papers
  Sandra Bean Home Movie Collection
  Bryant Family Papers
  
• Ida L. Jackson Papers (first African-American public school teacher in Oakland)
• Hadwick Thompson Papers (first African-American police  officer to join the Oakland Police Department)
• Royal E. Towns Papers (African-American Oakland firefighters)
• Harold Jenkins Photograph Collection 
  Read Marco Frazier's blog post "Slim Jenkins: West Oakland Entrepreneur"
• T.J. Robinson and T. J.'s Gingerbread House - this collection has not been digitized, but photographs, brochures, and menus can be found in the African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection.
• Memry Midgett Papers
• Jesse Fuller Collection

And Some Fun Extras:

• Freedom on the Menu: the Greensboro Sit-ins, by Carole Boston Weatherford (read by Marco Frazier in family storytime)
• The Blue Ribbon Christmas Eve Musical - what was on the mystery reel

Library staff featured on this episode:

Bamidele Agbasegbe-Demerson, Chief Curator, African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO)
Marco Frazier, Library Assistant, African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO)
Sean Dickerson, Library and Archives Assistant, African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO)
Dorothy Lazard, Librarian, Oakland History Center at the Oakland Public Library

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Episode 1: "Public Detectives" Notes

Click here for a transcript.

Dorothy Lazard, manager of the Oakland History Center, talks annexation and developing exhibits on Oakland history.

• Learn about the Oakland History Center and plan your visit.
• The Great Annexation of 1909 - see the exhibit through March 30.

Are you also in the throes of potty training? Here are the books and DVDs Mahasin Aleem recommends:

• Potty training girls the easy way : a stress-free guide to helping your daughter learn quickly
• Oh crap! potty training : everything modern parents need to know to do it once and do it right
• Stress-free potty training : a commonsense guide to finding the right approach for your child
• Once upon a potty for her
• Once upon a potty for him

And finally, the red snapper recipe that made us cry. Thanks, Kirsten Baldock.

Until next month, we'll see you around the library!