“Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.”

 Our Authors Study Club of Los Angeles (OASC), with its rich 80-year legacy of celebrating and safeguarding African and African American history, feels a renewed urgency in the wake of the 2025 firestorms that devastated communities in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. These fires caused immeasurable cultural loss—destroying paintings, rare books, personal archives, family heirlooms, and other irreplaceable creative works that held generations of memory and meaning.

As a grassroots organization rooted in scholarship, cultural preservation, and community connection, we stand in solidarity with the visual arts community and all who are grieving these losses. While we are not a large, well-funded institution, OASC offers what we do have: a trusted cultural platform, a longstanding commitment to preservation, and a network of community historians, scholars, and creatives.

Through shared listings, educational resources, and opportunities to document surviving stories and artworks, OASC seeks to help artists, collectors, and cultural stewards reconnect with one another, record what remains, and protect the histories that still can be saved. Our desire is to uplift and preserve Black cultural memory wherever possible—honestly, collaboratively, and in partnership with those who carry the creative and historical legacies of our communities.