About Octavia E. Butler
In the spring of 2020, we named our library after Octavia E. Butler, who graduated from Washington Junior High (our original name) in 1962. A mural was painted outside the library by Roberto Quintana that captures Butler's spirit, including her love of reading and the way she wrote down goals in notebooks. In the spring of 2022, the PUSD Board of Education unanimously voted to rename the school from Washington Middle School to Octavia E. Butler Magnet.
Octavia E. Butler was given a typewriter as a gift when she was a child. She used a blue typewriter to write her books. Her actual typewriter is featured by the Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC, as part of their exhibit called Typewriter as Time Machine. Click on the typewriter to see some of Butler's most famous quotes.
Octavia E. Butler left all of her papers in the care of the Huntington Library. The collection includes drafts of her writing, letters she exchanged, receipts, notes to herself, records of library books she borrowed, school records, etc. In total, the collection fills nearly 400 boxes.
The Huntington has shared some important records with us so that we can inspire our students with Butler's work. Our library has a museum of Butler's archives that were shared by the Huntington. If you are interested in viewing these records, please make an appointment using the contact button below.