The J. Tilman Williams, Oazo de Esperanto, and Esperanto Club of Los Angeles Collection (JTW, ODE, and EKLA Esperanto Collection for short) includes over 400 works of non-fiction and fiction literature, periodicals, dictionaries, vocabularies, grammar books, yearbooks, directories, correspondence, photographs, ephemera, and realia related to Esperanto and the Esperanto speaking community. Subjects include the Esperanto Klubo of Los Angeles, Esperanto studies, and Esperanto associations. Some material in this collection has been digitized and is available online.

Esperanto is a constructed language that was created by L.L. (Ludwig Lazar) Zamenhof in the late 1800s. Zamenhof was born in 1859 to a Jewish family and was the oldest out of four brothers and three sisters. His family lived in Bialystok, a city in Poland that had a history of being part of Prussian and Russian territory. Several different communities resided within Bialystok, including Jewish, German, Russian, and Polish, which created a linguistic and cultural divide. This divide was one of Zamenhof's influences in the construction of the universal language, Esperanto. Some of the material within the collection is from members of the Esperanto Club of Los Angeles which was later known as the Esperanto Association of Los Angeles. The club was founded by Joseph Scherer, William Braff, and Mr. Branson in 1927. The meetings were initially held at the Central Public Library but moved to the Boos Brothers Cafeteria and private homes so they could sing and play music. In the early 1930s, the club grew and included Charles Chomette, Donald Evans Parrish, John F. Clewe and their families. Later members of the club included William West Glenny, Brian Neil Burg, and J. Tilman Williams.

38 boxes 29 document boxes, 1 photograph box, 8 boxes in various sizes, and 15 over sized folders.

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

There are no access restrictions on this collection.