About the Exhibit
Now open!
From the first inhabitants in this area, to the people who grew the Valley of Heart’s Delight into Silicon Valley, the exhibition connects you to the past and present, and invites you to imagine the future. With the swipe of a screen and touch of a button, through augmented reality, photographs, videos, recorded voices and authentic artifacts beautifully presented, you discover a world at your fingertips.
“There are so many fascinating and untold stories in our cities, our towns, our neighborhoods. That’s certainly the case in Los Altos. I’m so glad our County could support this extraordinary new effort—21st-century technology connecting us to days gone by.”
– Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian (From Press Release)
- Sit in a globe chair to hear excerpts from the Museum’s oral history collection.
- Touch a topographic map and trace the landscape with your finger.
- View a collection of themed artifacts in the glass-walled Community Corner.
- Scroll through historic timelines and people stories on the touch screens.
- Push a button to operate the model train that runs through a replica of Downtown Los Altos in 1932. The scene features the buildings and businesses of the town with surprising animated features, and an augmented reality (AR) component to further engage you.
Making Connections: Stories from the Land is a thought-provoking, playful and exciting new way for all ages to explore history.
Shop the “Permanent Exhibit Collection” in the Museum store for a selection of gifts inspired by the exhibition.
Exhibit Highlights
Click on the images above to view larger.
Support the Ongoing Maintenance and Updating of the Permanent Exhibit
Donate Here“Los Altos is a city that was founded on, and continues to thrive, because of Community and Vision. The History Museum is an important example of this, from the decision to preserve the J. Gilbert Smith House in 1977, to the eventual addition of the new building in 2001 to allow space for the collection to expand, and now the latest step in its evolution, the opening of the New Permanent Exhibition, “Making Connections: Stories from the Land.” This is all thanks to committed community members who work hard, as well as financially support efforts to memorialize our past. We have one of the best, if not THE best, local History Museums around, and it attracts those interested in the history of the Valley as well as those interested in experiencing a top-notch local Museum.”
– Sally Meadows, Mayor of Los Altos