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Thanks from Oak Grove School!

Dr. Amy Ellison, the Museum’s Exhibition Curator, had the opportunity to talk with a class of 4th grade students at Oak Grove School in San Jose after they saw our virtual field trip of the exhibition, “Rise Up! The Fight for Women’s Suffrage.” In this blog post, the classroom teachers share their appreciation, and some of the student’s artwork related…
March 2, 2021
Blog

Building Equity through Museum Collections

The Museum has begun a collecting initiative that actively seeks photographs, artifacts, artworks and materials to document the history of civil rights movements, immigration and race in Los Altos and the greater Santa Clara County. The materials collected through this initiative will be a part of the newly-created collection we are calling the "Social Justice Collection." Race is oftentimes referred…
February 3, 2021
Blog

The Dawn of 2021

Los Altos History Museum welcomed 2021 with a note of sadness and hope, which I think captures how so many of us feel right now. We are sad to not be welcoming the public to our in-house curated special exhibition, "Rise Up! The Fight for Women’s Suffrage." It sits in all its glory in our main gallery, without any visitors,…
January 7, 2021
Blog

Art and the Gathering of Community

Over the course of this year, the Museum had the opportunity to examine the history and role of art in our community. Our Spring exhibition, “Gallery 9: Celebrating Art in Los Altos,” inspired us to tinker with the idea of hosting an art auction fundraiser for the first time and informed our collecting process for the 2020 Benefit Collection. Some…
December 11, 2020
Blog

AAUW Applauds Rise Up!

Los Altos-Mountain View American Association of University Women (AAUW) salutes the Los Altos History Museum for the creation of "Rise Up! The Fight for Women's Suffrage," an illuminating exhibition about the local and national struggle that led to women being granted the right to vote in California in 1911, and in the rest of the country in 1920. Since 1882,…
November 9, 2020
Blog

Thanking Chef Chu

We were honored to present Chef Chu and his wife Ruth with a painting of their iconic restaurant, in a ceremony that was held at the Los Altos History Museum, Wednesday, Oct 21. We thanked Chef Chu for thinking of us on the occasion of the restaurant's 50th anniversary and his offer to host a dinner in February for 100 friends and supporters of the…
October 28, 2020
Blog

Honoring Jane Reed

Jane and John Reed in front of their Los Altos home. Not just a friend of the Los Altos History Museum, Jane Reed has been an inspiring leader, enthusiastic volunteer, and passionate, creative force in many ways for many years. Jane Reed received the 2020 Historic Preservation Award August 25, with a proclamation presented by Jan Pepper, Mayor of Los Altos,…
August 26, 2020
Blog

Los Altos Celebrates 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage

“Los Altos Celebrates 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage” is the title of a series of programs sponsored by the City of Los Altos, Los Altos History Museum, Los Altos Library, Los Altos Youth Commission, Los Altos Women’s Caucus and Santa Clara County. The public is invited to attend events in person or virtually. “The Los Altos Women’s Caucus called together all these…
August 18, 2020
Blog

Adjusting to a New Job During a Pandemic

On February 13, 2020, I started my first day as Office Administrator of the Los Altos History Museum. When I arrived, I was greeted by Executive Director, Elisabeth Ward, who showed me to my workstation with a bounce in her step. Initially, I shared a desk with an office temp who was filling in until a permanent employee was hired.…
June 25, 2020
Struggling for rightsBlog

Confronting an Uncomfortable Legacy

Museums, especially cultural and historic museums, are fundamentally about identity. The Los Altos History Museum gathers and presents artifacts and stories about our community in order to build an understanding of who we are and the choices we have made during our lives. Right now, museums across the country are being challenged to examine the choices they make about how…
June 11, 2020
Blog

The Story of the Museum’s Apricot Tree

In January, the Los Altos History Museum’s Executive Director, Dr. Elisabeth Ward, envisioned a real live apricot tree growing next to the newly installed sign in the Museum's agricultural exhibit area. The sign tells the story of the Blenheim apricots in the nearby Los Altos Community Orchard, originally planted around 1905 by our Los Altos orchardist, J. Gilbert Smith. Fortunately…
May 13, 2020
Blog

A Museum without Walls?

At the foundation of every museum is a collection. Different types of museums are distinguished based on what it is they collect and preserve: art museums collect and preserve art, whereas natural history museums collect and preserve natural specimens. The Los Altos History Museum is a history museum, which means we collect things related to the history of our area.…
April 30, 2020