William Sturm - Oakland

William “Bill” Sturm was in charge of the Oakland History Center for many years and helped grow it and focus it on local history. He retired in 2001.

Sturm was born in Oakland, and grew up in the Laurel District, attending Laurel Elementary, Bret Harte Jr. High, and Skyline High School. He started with the Oakland Public Library while in college at San Francisco State in 1965, working at the Glenview Branch. ¹

Numerous authors of local history have been helped by Sturm's research, including:

Oakland Police Department by Phil McArdle, Arcadia Publishing: 2007
American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland by Robert O. Self, Princeton University Press, 2003
The Black Prince of Baseball: Hal Chase and the Mythology of the Game by Donald Dewey, Nicholas Acocella, University of Nebraska Press, 2004
Hometown Chinatown: A History of Oakland's Chinese Community, 1852-1995 by Eva Armentrout Ma, Routledge Press, 2011
The Archaeology of Urban Landscapes: Explorations in Slumland edited by Alan Mayne, Tim Murray
The Society of Six: California Colorists by Nancy Boas, University of California Press, 1988
Oakland: The Story of a City by Beth Bagwell, Presidio Press, 1982

Sturm was one of the first board members of the Oakland Heritage Alliance (OHA), and often wrote the "Oakland History Notes" piece in the OHA newsletter.