2014 Oral History Essay Contest Awards

I have just gotten back from the San Lorenzo Valley Middle School where an all-school assembly was held to recognize students' achievements.  I was so pleased to not only be included in this end-of-the-year school assembly, but I was first on the program.  I gave out two cash awards, both to 6th graders, who wrote on the theme of local people who either work or have a business in SLV as an extension of our Smithsonian exhibit, 'The Way We Worked'.  As part of my presentation I read a synopsis of each essay in front of the school student body, then called each winner up front to receive their check.  I was told that the presentation would be a surprise to the winners, who certainly received loud and long applause from their fellow students.  I also took the opportunity at the end of the presentation to encourage participation next year.   I really enjoyed being a part of one of our local school's activities and to recognize our youth's interest in the museum and preserving our local history.

Crystals, Caves, & Kilns exhibit

I always look forward to learning something new about our San Lorenzo Valley.  Sometimes when you hear a certain story repeated often, a certain historical person is discussed frequently, you wonder - - what is new to add to our local history?  Our current exhibit, 'Crystals, Caves, and Kilns', is bringing new history out into the open and our visitors are excited about that.  This exhibit not only has a video showing cavers going down into a local cave (yes, we do have several caves in the area) and the animals that live in them, but also some before and after photos of local lime producing areas.  I didn't realize what I was driving by on a weekly basis, but will pay attention now.   There is a hands-on area for children to study, handle, and learn about the different types of rocks and boy! do they have fun weighting the rocks, looking at them through magnifying glasses, and just feeling the differences.  This is a very complete, comprehensive, and enjoyable display of our local limestone and marble industry.   I'm glad to see such a rewarding partnership between museums and business.

Good - by 'The Way We Worked' exhibit

I have to confess that I wasn't quite sure what to expect with an exhibit coming from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC!  I have visited their museums not to long ago and left overwhelmed, impressed, thoroughly enjoyed every minute, and with a lifetime of memories.  But I could NOT wrap my head around how we would fit an impressive big impact exhibit into our intimate museum while also giving our visitors the feeling of a big museum exhibit that they would expect from the Smithsonian.  Well - this exhibit was not only big impact in what it delivered, but also compact, tons of photos, content everywhere - even under hats, visual & audio components to enjoy, but it also brought back many memories for our visitors of the types of work they have done in their lives.  Even I was surprised to see photo that brought back an early memory for me - a photo of a large mainframe computer room writing / reading data on large reels of magnetic tape.  It reminded me of one of my early jobs and the beginning of a 32-year career at one company.  We posed the question, 'What was your first job?' and had many dozens of answers.  Some were what many young kids did; delivering newspapers, babysitting, dog walking, but some were surprising, like selling newspapers on the beach.  So Good-by 'The Way We Worked' and Hello to our new exhibit, 'Crystals, Caves, and Kilns'.  Stop by and visit this exhibit.

Smithsonian exhibit, 'The Way We Worked'

We are now in the last two weeks of this fabulous exhibit.  I feel excited about the increased visitation we have welcomed to the museum and appreciative of the positive praise we have received.  Our community have let us know how proud they are to have an exhibit of this  high caliber here locally to visit and enjoy.  I was visiting with one visitor who was telling me that she was telling all her neighbors and friends that 'they just had to come visit the museum and experience this exhibit'.  Another visitor walked past us so I turned to welcome her and I heard, 'and here is one of my neighbors that I told to come visit!'.   Many of us 'baby boomers' can related to many of the photos and their captions describing the work we did and are surprised to see it thought of as 'history'.  For me it was the large mainframe computer rooms that ran large magnetic tape reels of embedded information.   The memories that were brought back to me.

Big Turnout to Honor Our Local Vets

Mon, Nov 11th was our 4th Annual Veterans Day Dinner.  One of my personal highlights of this event is walking around Scopazzi's Restaurant, welcoming our veterans and their families to an evening of shared experiences and history.  I always check that each vet has received and is wearing their annual veteran pin that displays the current Veteran Department's image.  This year the word is 'Valor' and it is so visible in each of our veterans' faces, carriage, and demeanor.  This year we had a poem written by local veteran Bob Presswood about the Viet Nam Memorial Wall.  I am from that era and went to high school with so many classmates who were drafted.  Over 20 years ago I visited the Viet Nam Memorial Wall, touched the names, and felt such overwhelming sadness seeing that long list of names.  The poem put me back there, standing in front of that long black wall again.  That is what this evening is about - sharing, the camaraderie of shared experiences, sharing across generations.  I wouldn't miss this experience.

Boulder Creek Brewery sponsorship a huge Success!

I want to send a big THANK YOU to Nancy Long and Steven Wyman, co-owners of Boulder Creek Brewery, for sponsoring our 1st Community Night.  The BC Brewery has always been a committed supporter of the SLV Museum, so we were so happy that Nancy agreed without hesitation to our request to partner with them for our 1st Community Night.  I went late with my husband, but even at 9 pm the dining area was half full and plenty of people were the enjoying the microbrewery bar.  We had a delicious dinner of (for me) garlic shrimp and steak medallions with garlic mashed potatoes and perfectly steamed veggies and (my husband) the ribs with string fries and coleslaw.  Enjoyed it all and shared desserts (mini carrot cake and brownie ice cream sundae).  We had fun asking each other the Trivia Pursuit questions from the stack of cards on the tables.  Before we knew it our food was served.  I've heard from others who stopped by the Brewery in support of the Museum that it was very busy.  Thank you to ALL our supporters who supported us by supporting our great local business, Boulder Creek Brewery and Cafe'.

Visitors to our Wee Wonders and Widgets Exhibit

I have always enjoyed watching our visiting children show their excitement and wonder watching a model train go around on a track and make the train whistle sounds.  However, there is nothing like the unbridled joy in watching mentally challenged adults visiting us for the first time and their realizing that they can make their own models from all the construction bits and pieces.  We were visited by the Laurel Street Center in downtown Santa Cruz on three different days.  Their van can only bring so many people at a time so they came on three different days with some repeating visitors.  I had my hand eagerly grabbed and taken to a very small train that went around a very small circle track, but made a very loud train chugging sound and went through a tunnel.  The young man was so surprised and pleased with the miniature train he had to share his excitement with someone and I was the one he picked.  A young woman was fascinated with the flume and kept looking through our book-like exhibit filled with flume photos and its history here in San Lorenzo Valley.  Several models were proudly made with exhibit labels written out and names written at the bottom of the label.  I got hugs and waves when they left.  What a wonderful visit.