The Los Gatos Library - Local History Volunteers are excited to share historical facts and information about the Town of Los Gatos. Many of these stories have originated through the work that they have been doing during their work in our Local History room at the library. Each issue will highlight interesting facts and stories about the people and events that have helped make Los Gatos such a wonderful place to live, work, and play. We hope you enjoy reading.
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Contact the Los Gatos Library 408-354-6896 Hours: Monday 11AM - 8PM Tuesday 11AM - 8PM Wednesday 10AM - 6PM Thursday 10AM - 6PM Friday 10AM - 6PM Saturday 10AM - 5PM Sunday 12PM - 5pm eMail the History Collection Volunteers history@losgatosca.gov
Local History Room 408-399-5795
Volunteer Hours: Mondays 1PM - 5PM Tuesdays 2PM-4PM Wednesdays 10 AM - 12PM Thursdays 1PM - 5PM
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California apricots : the lost orchards of the Silicon Valley
by Robin Chapman
Picked warm from a tree, a California apricot opens into halves as easily as if it came with a dotted line down its center. The seed infuses the core with a hint of almond; the fruit carries the scent of citrus and jasmine; and it tastes, some say, like manna from heaven. In these pages, Robin Chapman recalls the season when the Santa Clara Valley was the largest apricot producer in the world and recounts the stories of Silicon Valley's now lost orchards. From the Spaniards in the eighteenth century who first planted apricots in the Mission Santa Clara gardens to the post-World War II families who built their homes among subdivided orchards, relive the long summer days ripe with bumper crops of this much-anticipated delicacy.
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by Leigh Irvine In 1914, Santa Clara County California was proud to be an agricultural paradise, famous the world over. This reprint of a Santa Clara County guide from 1914 highlights the time when the region was known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" and flowering orchards covered the valley floor. As the 20th century progressed, the orchards and farms would give way to "Silicon Valley" and the birth of a new industry for the county. In addition to agriculture, the short guide from 1914 has articles on Stanford, San Jose institutions, plus 15 cities and towns including: San Jose, Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Mayfield, Mountain View, Gilroy, Saratoga, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Campbell, Los Gatos and Los Altos. The book is 68 pages with over 65 black and white photos from 1914.
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We continue to organize and uncover many historical gems hiding in our library's collection. Here is an article written in the Los Gatos Weekly News in 1885-- Los Gatos Weekly News, Oct. 16, 1885 "The bridge to be raised" Supervisor Ayers and contractor Brown were in town Tuesday on business with reference to the raising of the bridge across Los Gatos Creek in the center of this town. It was decided to raise the bridge five feet above its present level, and the work will be commenced as soon as the necessary lumber can be procured. Mr. Brown will superintend the work. The California Hotel, owned by A. Berryman, will also have to be raised to correspond with the grade of the street. This work is one of great importance to this place, and our citizens owe much in this connection to the persistent efforts of EF. Reynolds in bringing the necessity of this improvement to the notice of the Supervisors, as well as to Supervisor Ayers in his prompt recognition of the wants of the people. 1890's Main St. Bridge (Clarence Hamsher Collection) 2015 Main St. Bridge
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The concept of Sister Cities or Town Twinning is the legal and social agreement to promote cultural and commercial ties across borders which began as early as 836 AD between Paderborn, Germany and Le Mans, France. The more modern trend resurfaced in the 20th century after World War I, in 1920, and after World War II, in 1947. The connection between towns and cities had a diplomatic aspect, championing peace and prosperity between former enemies. President Dwight Eisenhower held a White House summit meeting on citizenship diplomacy in 1956 at which he declared a non-profit organization to be known as Sister Cities International. The goal he envisioned would bring peace and prosperity around the world. A less formal association is simply an agreement between two cities of different countries which is signed by the mayors or highest ranking officials to form a sister city relationship. Los Gatos has five such Sister Cities: Zihuatanejo, Mexico; Chung-Ho, Taiwan; Tallinn, Estonia; Listowel, Ireland and Liaoyang, China. The reasons for partnership vary: for trade purposes, geographical similarity, shared cultural interests, tourism, or simply a quixotic reason such as describes the twinning of Dull, Scotland and Boring, Oregon. In the early 1970s, Russ Cooney, Town Manager of Los Gatos, was on vacation in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. He noted that the town’s most prominent beach was named Las Gatas. (their spelling.) Interest began to build in our community and in 1972 Mayor Ruth Cannon suggested a resolution to appoint a Sister Cities Committee. The committee’s first members were Mr. Frank Corbin, Mr. George Kane and Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Bruntz. Its term of existence was to be 3 years, but in 1975 the resolution was passed to extend the committee’s existence indefinitely. However, the committee did not meet regularly and it seems did not have an effect on the choice of future Sister Cities. Consequently it dissolved naturally from inactivity. The first Sister City of the Town of Los Gatos was Zihuatanejo, Mexico. A travel party organized by Travel Advisors in August 1972 included Mayor Ruth Cannon and her husband, Charles de Freitas, George Kane and his wife, and Ed and Betty Stahl. Ed Stahl, owner of Travel Advisors, facilitated the ceremony between the towns’ officials by “renting” a mayor of Zihuatanejo until the real official showed up, whereupon the “rent-a-mayor” became a skillful interpreter for the two groups. In 1974, Russ Cooney, Town Manager, sent a letter to Zihuatanejo offering good wishes from our town and a donation of basketballs and hoops as a gesture of good will. Town Councilman John Lochner was planning to make a trip to Mexico and agreed to stop in Zihuatanejo to make a personal visit. The Lochner party flew in a small plane and landed in a palm grove, only to be surrounded by police with guns at the ready as they descended from the plane. The Americans were instructed to line up their luggage on the runway and open all suitcases. The militia went through the bags with the bayonets attached to their guns. What a welcoming from a Sister City! But there had been intense guerrilla activity in the area and security was paramount. At that time, 1974, Zihuatanejo was a village with mud streets and had very little in the way of commerce. The Mexican government was in the process of constructing a resort-worthy beach in Ixtapa, located just over the hill. Zihuatanejo benefited from these improvements and eventually attracted tourists to their main beach, Las Gatas Beach. Mayor Jorge Alecca welcomed John Lochner and his party and was duly appreciative of the sports equipment. In the mid 1980s a second Sister City for Los Gatos was selected. Chung-Ho, Taiwan was adopted by Town Council resolution in 1984 in response to a suggestion from a Chinese businessman as a possible commerce exchange. John Lochner, now an ex-Town Councilman, nevertheless agreed to add to his planned China trip and included Chung-Ho to his itinerary. John’s most vivid memory of that trip was how they were wined and dined. At a banquet with dozens of people around the table, everyone was invited to toast to the Sister City relationship, and it was not polite to refuse. When it came to the Mayor of Chung-Ho, he noted that John Lochner was “a pretty good drinker!” On July 14, 1986 a barbecue was held in Los Gatos for delegates from Chung-Ho and on December 1, 2000 a delegation of 28 people from Chung-Ho arrived from San Francisco to visit Los Gatos. A luncheon was given during which commemorative gifts were exchanged. Ceramics from Trent Pottery were presented to the Taiwanese city. The Chinese were interested in our position in Silicon Valley because of their interest in electronics and technology information. The Hwa Hsia University of Technology is located in Chung-Ho. (to be continued)
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Intersection of N. Santa Cruz Avenue and Highway 9 looking south. Circa 1950s. (LGL postcards collection) I have lived all my life in Los Gatos. I thought I had a pretty good idea about its history until recently when I discovered that the first cemetery in Los Gatos was located at the corner of Highway 9 and Santa Cruz Avenue. The location of the cemetery was a surprise, but the bigger surprise was that there are still graves on the property. I decided to do some research. In its early years the town of Los Gatos was primarily located on East Main Street across Los Gatos Creek. As the town grew businesses were built west on Main Street toward Santa Cruz Avenue. With this in mind it is then not a surprise that the first Los Gatos Cemetery was located at the corner of Highway 9 and Santa Cruz Avenue- ( a good distance away from what was then the center of town). A local farmer named Mason donated a tract of orchard land for a cemetery in the 1860’s. By the time the Town of Los Gatos was incorporated in 1887 the cemetery was nearing capacity and since it was surrounded by the town there was no room to expand. A local resident donated 17 1/2 acres near the intersection of Highway 9 and Los Gatos Blvd, but property owners quickly objected as they were afraid the value of their properties would decrease The Town Board was thus forced to deed the property back to the generous donor. A group of prominent local citizens formed the Los Gatos Cemetery Association in 1889. The Association acquired 13 1/2 acres on Los Gatos Almaden Road which was about 3 1/2 miles outside the Town’s boundary. By 1890 the cemetery was ready to open and the Town Board passed an ordinance forbidding further internments in the old graveyard. After learning of the original cemetery in Los Gatos, I wondered why there are still graves under the commercial buildings at the corner of Highway 9 and Santa Cruz Avenue. I discovered that the town did not pay for reinterment at the new cemetery which meant that for those who could not afford the cost of the move their relatives were left in the original cemetery. Other graves were left because relatives could not be found. The remainder were people who did not want their relatives moved. This included one John Mason, the last living relative of the family that donated the cemetery land. He refused to move his family graves. Once a sufficient number of bodies had been removed from the cemetery, plans moved forward to allow the empty land to be used for commercial and industrial purposes. For years after the cemetery’s move, The Hunt Brothers Cannery occupied the land with cottages for the workers to stay in. In the 1940s Realtor Effie Walton bought the land and built a strip of shops known as Little Village. As a footnote, in 1950 a crew digging a new sewer line along Village Lane, the the street that bisects what was once the cemetery, came across a cast iron child’s coffin. The casket was moved to the new cemetery and was placed in an unmarked grave.
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The name Cuesta de Los Gatos was clearly in use by the late 1700s based on historic references that include the 1831 story of Yoscolo, the 1846 memoirs of Captain Charles Fremont, and the Spanish Padre's narratives of the yowling wildcats at Laguna del Sargento. Meanwhile legends arose that also contained reference to wildcats. The most prominent of these legends concerns the naming of Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos. Clarence Hamsher, a local banker and historian, recounts the story in his 1948 pamphlet "How Los Gatos Got Its Name." As told to him in 1927 by the daughter of one of its early settlers, the story depicts Jose Hernandez's search for a new homestead and the founding of "Rinconada de Los Gatos." In late 1839 Jose Hernandez set out from the Pueblo of San Jose de Guadalupe with his brother, brother-in-law and four Indians. After traversing south through the Santa Cruz Mountains and back north, cutting a trail through densely growing blue flowered wild lilac, towering red barked madrone, poison oak, and the yellow flowered chaparral broom, they arrived at a wild grassy meadow that overlooked the Santa Clara Valley. The site would have been perfect if it only had water, lamented Jose Hernandez. Meanwhile as the men spoke, they could hear a terrible wildcat fight erupting nearby. Wildcats were a sure sign that water certainly could not be far. Sensing that the old Indian could best find water, they sent him out into the dense foliage with only a machete, no water, no food, and no supplies. After two hours the old Indian returned to the group of jubilant men with news that he had found water. Jose Hernandez said they would name the site "Rinconada de Los Gatos," meaning "The Corner of the Cats." The water was found on San Tomas Creek and Hernandez established his first adobe hacienda there on what is now Quito Road, about one and a half miles from the center of present day Los Gatos. A land Patent for Rinconada de Los Gatos was granted to Jose Hernandez and Sebastian Peralta by the Mexican Government May 21, 1840, for 6,631.44 acres. First Adobe House in Los Gatos (Clarence Hamsher Collection) Another more dramatic legend takes place closer to town, where the current Main Street Bridge crosses the Los Gatos Creek. However at the time of the story there only existed a small footbridge. A shepherd from Santa Clara Mission brought his sheep to the foothills to graze on the young springtime grasses and wildflowers. Pedro Vasques, his wife, and baby had a shelter on one side of the creek and a corral on the other. One stormy evening Pedro secured his flock in the corral and then headed over the rain swollen creek. Slipping on the footbridge he fell into the raging creek and drowned. After a sad, lonely evening with her precious daughter, the next morning the wife crossed over the footbridge and released the sheep back to pasture. She hurried back to the little abode and her daughter, but to her horror she found that wildcats had killed and dragged away her child. The grieving mother then drowned herself in the creek. The tragic story was told many times at the mission and this area known for its many wildcats became Los Gatos-The Cats. Los Gatos Creek 1899 (Museums of Los Gatos) Conclusion There is geographic evidence and history to substantiate how Los Gatos got its name. Alexander Forbes built Forbes Mill in 1850 on the Arroyo de Los Gatos, which sprung from Cuesta de Los Gatos or Wild Cat Ridge. Forbestown became the name of our one building town. Meanwhile an adobe house called Rinconada de Los Gatos was established in 1839, and in a deposition of 1853, by the U. S. Land Commission, Alexander Forbes testified that he had known the land of Rinconada de Los Gatos for 20 years and that it took its name from the stream of Los Gatos. By 1868 Forbestown consisted of the mill, a blacksmith's shop, stage depot, lumber yard, a temporary school house, a hotel with a post office established in 1864 with the first postmaster, and a handful of houses. Yet Forbestown was dwarfed by a much larger town to the south. Lexington, with its lucrative sawmill, built in 1848 on the Arroyo de Los Gatos was the true heart of area commerce. However in the 1860s, as the sawmills of Lexington moved southward to be closer to the timber, Forbestown began to grow. In 1870, Forbes Mill, after failing under Forbes and other owner became The Los Gatos Manufacturing Company. And, in 1887 the town of Los Gatos was officially incorporated. So whether you rely on the geographic evidence and history, or if you prefer to believe the stories and legends, one thing is clear, Los Gatos was named for the many wildcats that frequented the area and sometimes still do. Resources and Further Reading: History of Los Gatos, George Bruntz 1971. Rinconada de Los Gatos, Frances Fox 1968 Please send comments to sungold27@gmail.com
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JOHN WELDON LYNDON 1836-1912 John W. Lyndon, son of Samuel and Polly Caroline Lyndon, was born at Alburgh Springs, Grand Isle County, Vermont, February 18, 1836. Between ten and twelve years of age he left home and began to earn his own livelihood. At this age he went to New Hampshire, and from there to Massachusetts, and was in Maine for a short time. He came to California in October, 1859, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and landed in San Francisco after a voyage of twenty-three days. The next day after his arrival he went to San Jose, where he remained a few days, when he went to Lexington and hired out to H. M. Hervey, who kept a boarding-house. His first business was the driving of an ox team, and it was the first attempt of his life in that business. To show his skill in the work, he says he tipped his wagon over the first day! Soon becoming dissatisfied with this business, he applied for something else to do, and was sent by the proprietor to his ranch. When he began to work for Mr. Hervey he had but sixty cents. After remaining with him two months, he hired to Bernard Joseph, who kept a grocery and general store in Lexington, where he worked more than two years. The money saved during this time he invested in a piece of land in the Willows, near San Jose. He then went to San Francisco, bought some goods, and started a little store of his own in Lexington. After carrying on the business for a year, Joseph proposed a partnership, which was accepted, and the business carried on under the firm name of Joseph & Lyndon. After a year and a half, Joseph sold his interest to Lyndon, who continued in the business until 1868, making considerable money. He sold out in 1868, and took a trip back to Vermont, going via Panama.
He came back to Santa Clara County in the fall of 1869, and bought the 100-acre tract on which the hotel called the “Ten Mile House” is situated, which at that time was owned by H. D. McCabb. He paid $7,500 for it, and two months afterward sold it for $10,000, and four years thereafter he re-purchased it for $8,500! Upon his return to this county he located in Los Gatos, and rented the piece of land on which the Wilcox House and depot now stand, and kept a lumber yard, supplying people all over the valley with lumber. When the railroad came through Los Gatos, in 1877, Mr. Lyndon cut up a part of his land into lots, which was the beginning of the laying out and selling of lots in Los Gatos. After he sold his 100-acre tract the first time, he bought a lot and moved his lumber yard to East Los Gatos, and continued the business there. He also built a dwelling-house and store, which was the second store kept in Los Gatos. Mr. Lyndon has been a very successful business man. When he came to California he did not spend his money as fast as he earned it, as many did, but was saving and industrious, and invested his money in property as he earned it. The first property he bought in the Willows for $500, he afterward sold for $4,000. When Los Gatos was incorporated, in 1887, Mr. Lyndon was elected a member of the Board of Trustees, and again in 1888, and is now President of the Board. He has been a School Trustee for many years, and has probably done more to build up the town of Los Gatos than any other man. He was one of the original stockholders of the Los Gatos Fruit Packing Company, organized in 1882, and of the Los Gatos Gas Company, incorporated in 1884. He is also a stockholder in the Los Gatos Bank. Mr. Lyndon was married, in 1872, to Theresa Rector, a native of Missouri, a daughter of W. H. Rector, one of the early settlers of Oregon, who afterward removed to California. They have two children: Ora Everett, aged twelve years, and Irma Lyle, aged eight years. Mr. Lyndon built, in 1887, his present residence, situated on one of the beautiful knolls in Los Gatos, overlooking the valley and surrounding country, which he calls “Lyndon Home.” The home stood on the site now occupied by Los Gatos Meadows retirement community on Wood Road.
The James Weldon Lyndon home. (Farwell Family Collection) In 1900, the Lyndon Family poses for a photo at the home of James Lyndon No. 1 Broadway, Los Gatos. James Lyndon is at the top left, John Lyndon at top right. John's brother, James, served in the Union Army as a teenager and later became sheriff of Santa Clara County (1894-1898). (Baggerly (John & Barbara) Collection) The Lyndon family first appears on the 1851 Canadian Census under the surname Linden living in St. Georges de Clarenceville, Quebec. Between 1851 and 1856 the family moved to Alburgh, Grand Isle, Vermont and changed the spelling of the name to Lyndon. To be continued-- Part II -- James Hardy Lynbdon 1847-1912......
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Can you picture this? At least a hundred disappointed Los Gatans being turned away from the opening of the brand new, 600-seat Strand Theater on Saturday evening, November 18, 1916? And with the total population of Los Gatos only around 2200. At least 700 people lined up on the sidewalk outside 41 N. Santa Cruz Avenue to watch "The Chattel," starring E.H. Sothern and Peggy Hyland on the silver screen, a silent movie playing to the musical accompaniment of the new Wurlitzer organ. They couldn't wait to sit in the theater described as, "unexcelled in the entire state of California in beauty and comfort." Outside, the knife-blade neon sign lit the night, but no marquee yet advertised what was playing. That came later, after The Strand burned down in September, 1929, and was replaced by The Premier, a beautiful art deco building addition to the town. One disturbing incident occurred in the theater's long history on February 21, 1933, when a black powder bomb exploded during the night. Luckily no one was injured, not even the manager who had been sleeping in his upstairs apartment. The explosion wrecked the front of the building and even damaged the adjoining candy store. The perpetrator was never identified although the popularity of the venue kept speculation alive for years. New owners in about 1940 renamed the theater "Gatos," then in 1974 it was closed because of fire damage and re-opened the following year as the "Los Gatos Theater" with yet another new owner. Mrs. Carmel Cormack organized a celebration named GRAPE, for Grand Reopening And Preservation Extravaganza with the support of the town's historical society. Los Gatos Theater (Los Gatos Weekly Times) During the 1980s the theater was divided into two, and in October of 1989 the Loma Prieta Earthquake caused severe structural damage. When it finally re-opened in 1993, "Los Gatos Cinema" showed exclusively "fine arts," foreign films, mostly French. That changed to first-run movies when Camera Cinemas took over the management. Chris Ota, Los Gatos Librarian for Fiction Collection, remembers working part-time as a teen-ager in an Orinda, CA movie house, when heavy 12" film reels would arrive in the mail. He threaded the film onto the projectors, hoping to perfectly synchronize the end of one to the beginning of the next, keeping his fingers crossed that the film wouldn't break during the show. The newest version of the Los Gatos Theatre offers state-of-the-art digital facilities. After its unexpected closure in September of 2012 the Goetz family bought the building to the great relief of the town, gutted the entire interior, upgraded the exterior, and re-opened a beautiful theater, retaining and enhancing the art deco atmosphere. For the grand opening in May 2014, the downstairs was reunited into one with seating for 265; a second floor screening room, which includes 38 leather recliners, has a capacity of 100. There's a full-fledged snack bar, reader boards for the hearing impaired and headsets for the partially deaf. Of all the various owners of the theater, at least three were outstanding women of the community. Mrs. R.M. Black, owner of The Strand, vowed that "only pictures of the highest and cleanest types will be shown." Mrs. Cormack wanted to perpetuate that "small town feeling fostered by a one-theater community." And the present owner, Alicia Goetz shows her family's commitment to the community by offering the theater for more than just movies. The space can be rented for special events and parties. Hooray for the over-one-hundred-years' tradition of going to the movies in Los Gatos ---and for parties!
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Being a retired Los Gatos High School teacher with a great interest in education and history, I decided to write this month about local first grade teacher Louise Van Meter. Since one of Los Gatos’ elementary schools was named after her, l wanted to find out why. As it turns out , there are MANY reasons why. Louise Van Meter 1890 (Museums of Los Gatos) Source 1: Peggy Conaway Bergtold and Stephanie Ross Mathews Miss Van Meter is one of the featured town characters in Legendary Locals of Los Gatos, one of the excellent series of succinct Los Gatos histories co-written or entirely researched and written by former Los Gatos Library Head Librarian Peggy Conaway Bergthold. They are lively reading and are available at Los Gatos Public Library. The Louise Van Meter entry points out that she taught first grade for 35 years in Los Gatos, which meant that she dealt with many six- year olds all at the same time, year after year, from when she was 25 years old until 1928, when she retired at age 60. By all accounts, she was still sane. “Her teaching methods were unconventional for her time. In her classroom, Van Meter introduced living history, art, and nature. She also advocated for a kindergarten class that would introduce younger children to learning and social skills. “Although warm and gracious Van Meter was also known for her insistence on discipline and many naughty children felt her ire.” (from Legendary Locals, p. 39) Source 2: Dr. George Bruntz What happened to Miss Van Meter’s “new-fangled” idea of a kindergarten? In his History of Los Gatos Dr. George Bruntz says, ”She was a progressive and popular teacher. Long before a kindergarten was part of a public school, Miss Van Meter advocated a ‘pre-first grade’ class for Los Gatos children. . . . It was not until July 20, 1916, that the Los Gatos Mail News could report that it had received assurances from the Board of School Trustees that a kindergarten for Los Gatos was an assured fact. Miss Van Meter’s idea had finally taken hold.” (Bruntz, p. 105) Source 3: Lyn Dougherty Another worthy source of information about Louise was local history docent Lyn Dougherty, who re-enacted Miss Van Meter as part of the celebration to open the new Los Gatos Public Library in February of 2012. Her script is one of the items in a folder devoted to Louise Van Meter in the library. In it she described her classroom “at the southeast corner (of the University Avenue School building) known as the ‘sunny room.’ It was colorful and full of art and plants. Students helped take care of a canary and a goldfish, among other pets. She had an old-fashioned rocking chair to comfort lonely or frightened children.’ ” Lyn Dougherty as Louise "Lulu" Van Meter (2012) Lyn Dougherty also dug something precious out of the Los Gatos Public Library history files . Then she put it right on the Los Gatos Public Library’s Local History Room work table for me to see. It is a 1991 Los Gatos Weekly Times article. To be continued....
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Upcoming Exhibits: Mitchell vs. Steinbeck May 12, 2016 – September 11, 2016 Through research, documents, photos, ephemera and interviews Mitchell vs. Steinbeck will look at the historical events that inspired John Steinbeck to write The Grapes of Wrath, and the controversy, and literary duel with a neighboring Los Gatos novelist, Ruth Comfort Mitchell, through her book Of Human Kindness. Script & Scribble: The Art and History of Handwriting May 19, 2016 - September 4, 2016 Script and Scribble: The Art and History of Handwriting will examine the value of practicing traditional handwriting in a world that is increasingly concerned with abbreviated communication, and what the possible extinction of penmanship might mean. This exhibit will weave together the history of writing implements and scripts, the golden age of American penmanship, the growth in popularity of graphology and handwriting analysis. Closing Exhibits: Los Gatos: 1887 Through April 3, 2016 The history of Los Gatos from its year of incorporation, seen through the lens of commerce, agriculture, family life and local heroes, and illustrated with objects from NUMU's permanent collection. An economy built on agricultural ventures and logging advanced Los Gatos from a small railroad town to what it is today. With the first commercial business at Forbes Mill, the founding residents turned Los Gatos into an important town in the bay area. It Takes a Village: A Trip Back in Time to Frontier Village, Santa's Village and Lost World Through Apr 17, 2016 What do a cowboy, a candy cane and a dinosaur have in common? They are all symbols of magical theme parks from a bygone era in the South Bay. For those who grew up in the area, each park holds special meaning and memories. The parks were more than just a place to spend the day. They were connections to an era and a time when childhood was defined less by technology and more by activity, imagination and play. This exhibit will transport the viewer back in time to explore these local places of enduring legacy and memory. M U S E U M H O U R S Wed 1pm-5pm Thur 11am-8pm Fri- Sun 11am-5pm A D M I S S I O N S General Admission is $9 FREE for members and visitors under 18 years of age Seniors, military and students $6 with valid ID Members also receive free admission to select Programs and Events. See what is coming up and consider joining us. Free Member Events.
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Lyn Dougherty Local History Volunteer
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Betty Chase Local History Volunteer
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Trish Smalling Goldfarb Local History Volunteer
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Kathy Morgan Local History Volunteer
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Richard Katz Local History Volunteer
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Jeanette Rapp Local History Volunteer
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Melissa Maglio Local History Volunteer Coordinator
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