OAKLAND -- On Sunday, long before the 10 a.m. opening of the Oakland Museum's White Elephant Sale Preview, hundreds of eager shoppers will be lined up, waiting for the raising of the roll-up door.

They'll be primed to head to their favorites among the 19 departments, brimming with a range of donated goods inside the 96,000-square-foot warehouse. Whether their destination is furniture or fine jewelry, toys or tools, clothing or china, books or bric-a-brac, it will be difficult for anyone to leave empty-handed.

Organized and presented by the Oakland Museum Women's Board, the event is celebrating its 57th year, by now having acquired a history of its own and there's little doubt what the sale accomplishes. Last year, the event raised a record $2.15 million that goes directly to benefit the Oakland Museum of California. And there's even less doubt about the importance of the museum to the city of Oakland and the Bay Area.

Behind the sale and the money raised there is a community of people, without which the event would never take place, those who donate the goods and the cadre of volunteers who create a well-organized and fun event for it all.


Nancy Stryble is a second-generation volunteer. Her mother, Margaret, and father, Francis, preceded her as volunteers in the White Elephant Sale book department. The Piedmont resident has 45 years of volunteering under her belt and credits her commitment to the people involved.

"Not just the people who work there; it's the people who have been donating for years and the people who've been shopping for years," she said. "There's a sense of ownership for this event that you don't see in most similar things. It's the camaraderie; you build friendships, and it becomes kind of a family."

Stryble said the book department is the same as shopping at any bookstore, with everything categorized, alphabetized and individually priced. The merchandise, most less than $3, ranges from pocketbooks to rare books locked in their own cases. The large number of cookbooks, art books, California history, travel and fiction, Stryble's area, add up to nearly 40,000 books.

"The book department took in $100,000 last year. Since most of our things are under $3, that's a lot of merchandise," Stryble said.

Co-chairing the art department, Montclair resident Maxine Rudy considers herself a volunteer rookie, with fewer than 20 years of service. One facet of importance to her is the realization that the huge volume of material that comes in belonged to someone else and held importance to them.

"Although our primary goal is to raise funds for and support the museum, the secondary goal is to make use of these things and make somebody else enjoy them," Rudy said.

Within the art department, shoppers can find small clay figures made in Mexico, all the way up to art canvases by prominent artists, with sculptures, landscape paintings, abstract art and photography in between.

"The Asian art section has everything from little pictures you might buy in San Francisco Chinatown to beautiful, handmade scrolls and paintings and antique Japanese woodcuts, while our print section has original Currier and Ives, as well as the prints you would have bought with grandma at Woolworth's years ago," Rudy said.

Not all volunteers work with the public. Oakland resident Lynne Berg began in women's wear and now, as co-chair with Monica Beary, works behind the scenes.

"The two co-chairs run the White Elephant Sale behind the scenes," she said. "We're in charge of ordering porta-potties and security, we manage employees and troubleshoot on sale days."

Berg stressed that each year brings new merchandise to the "biggest, best rummage sale in the Bay Area" and that even between the preview and sale, donations continue to pour in.

Though shoppers have three shopping days to look for treasures -- the Jan. 31 preview and free days on March 5-6 -- many won't pass up the chance to be in the first wave.

"If you're interested in the kinds of things that are available at the White Elephant Sale, you couldn't stand not to come to the preview," Rudy said. "It's really an exciting experience when those doors open and people come rushing in. They open the doors, and people literally come flowing in like a river."

"What stands out for me is the warmth of the people shopping, and for the most part, everybody has a good time," Stryble said. "They're getting a lot of bargains, and the museum benefits from it; it's a win-win situation for everybody."