Archiving Gold
A Project by Gold Beams x The Oakland Museum of California x The Oakland History Center
Photos by Dorean Raye
If you could speak directly to your descendants to come, what would you say?
In 2023 Gold Beams partnered with the Oakland Museum of California to debut the Archiving Gold project with one goal:
To give the opportunity for people to share their life lessons, stories, and wisdom with their lineage to come. Archiving Gold transformed present-day people into ancestral guides to share knowledge directly with future generations not even yet born about life in Oakland today.
“When I was a child, I was a Fairyland character - the magical monkey of china. I did cartwheels on the stage and performed with other kids. Now I have a lifetime pass to Fairyland and visit with my daughter.”
“non cell phone documentation freezes time better”
“My advice would be to remember how beautiful life can be. There’s so much pain, violence and despair in our world. It’s really easy to be overwhelmed by it all and feel as if that is all there is to life. This is something I constantly have to tell myself too. No matter how hard life gets, no matter what the beginning of your story was, you still have time to follow your dreams. You still have time to enjoy yourself. You still have time to change your life. I hope this inspires you.”
Archived at the Oakland History Center
The ancestral guides are photographed below. Their pictures and words they shared will be memorialized in a photo book that will live within the archives of the Oakland History Center.
