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History of the Oakland Museum Women’s Board |
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 The impressive straw–into-gold history of the White Elephant Sale, the primary source of the Oakland Museum Women’s Board funds, began in 1959 with a sale that grossed $500. Since then, everything from a pony to paintings to pianos has been sold at this incredible rummage sale event.
During its history the Oakland Museum Women’s Board has contributed over 13 million dollars to the Oakland Museum of California.
Through the years the army of dedicated volunteers, which consists of Oakland Museum of California staff, the Oakland Museum Women’s Board members and friends/volunteers, has grown to more than 1200 people. This incredible group donates thousands of volunteer hours to sort, organize and sell the millions of items donated by the public or collected and delivered to our own warehouse by our very busy van crew.
The behind the scenes work starts in May and goes into high gear early every January. The Preview Sale held in late January draws a paying crowd of over 1500 to “pre-shop” the giant rummage sale. The grand March Sale is held during the first weekend in March and admission is free to the public.
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History