OAH Book Bridge Program

books

Did you know that the OAH has facilitated the donation of thousands of books to local libraries in every conference city that we’ve visited since 2002?


The OAH Book Bridge Program springs directly from our mission of promoting excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history. Each year, we encourage conference exhibitors to donate display copies of their books to public libraries, community colleges, and universities across the country through our Book Bridge Program, thus making the most relevant and recent U.S. history scholarship more widely accessible to so many.

We are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2023 Book Bridge Program donation is the Southern California Library!

The Southern California Library is a community library and archive located in South Los Angeles. Founded almost 60 years ago, the Library holds extensive collections of histories of community resistance in Los Angeles and beyond, with a mission to document and make accessible histories of struggles that challenge racism and other systems of oppression so we can all imagine and sustain possibilities for freedom. Everyone is welcome to use the Library's resources to research and put to practice the histories of everyday people working to create change.

Past recipients have included:

Adams Public Library, Central Falls, RI

City College of San Francisco Library, San Francisco, CA

DC Public Library, Washington, D.C.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library at San José State University, San José, CA

Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Gordon State College Department of History, Barnesville, GA

Howard University Libraries, Washington, D.C.

Lone Star College-North Harris Library, Houston, TX

Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners, New Orleans, LA

Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee, WI

New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, LA

North Seattle College Library, Seattle, WA

Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library, Boston, MA

Rondo Community Library, Saint Paul Public Library, St. Paul, Minnesota

Rural Library Project, Atlanta, GA

Sacramento State University Library, Sacramento, CA

Santa Clara University Library, Santa Clara, CA

Southern California Library, Los Angeles, CA

St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis, MO

Ursula C. Schwerin Library – City Tech Library, New York City College of Technology, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY

 

Over the years we have received wonderful feedback from deserving program recipients, and with many non-profits and community libraries currently facing more difficult budget restraints, we feel this is not only a worthwhile endeavor, but an important extension of our overall mission. We couldn’t make this program happen without the help of our generous participating exhibitors, some of whom have donated books every year, as well as the many individuals who have advised and supported the Book Bridge Program over the last two decades. We look forward to carrying this rewarding experience forward in Los Angeles this spring!