Los Altos History Museum executive director Elisabeth Ward highlighted “The Future of the Past” in her Oct. 28 presentation to the Rotary Club of Los Altos.
More than 80 Rotarians – many in Halloween costumes – attended the lunch gathering on the museum’s patio, the first in-person club meeting in 18 months.
Ward, an anthropologist who earned master’s and doctorate degrees from UC Berkeley, cited examples of how the COVID pandemic has affected the audience’s history. From an anthropological point of view, she explained that groups based on gender, class and race tend to evolve, changing interests and actions. Today, we may ask, “Why did my ancestors do that?” She noted the answer is not always pretty.
For instance, during World War II, the properties of many Japanese residents in Tacoma, Wash., were sold while they were forcibly held in internment camps. However, in the Los Altos area, friends continued to pay the taxes on many Japanese farms so they could retain ownership when they returned.
According to Ward, documenting the evolution of group actions is the role of history museums. The Los Altos History Museum was founded to fill such a role, she added.
“Microscopes get more powerful over time,” she said, enabling current museum visitors access to increasingly complex historical explanations.
The Los Altos History Museum has a storied history itself. Back in 1905, orchardist J. Gilbert Smith built his house on San Antonio Road. He later donated it to the city of Los Altos. The Smith House still stands as the first building in the History Museum’s complex. The adjacent 1915-era water tank had been used to irrigate fruit orchards, along with a tractor and sprayer that are also displayed on-site. Since that period, local residents have witnessed the demolition of nearly all the local orchards for which the Valley of Heart’s Delight was once known.
Change in one’s hometown can be unsettling to watch, Ward said, so it is fortunate the city of Los Altos preserved the historical apricot “pocket orchard” next to the Los Altos main library.
The museum plans to tell a wider story in its second-floor permanent exhibition space, Ward shared. Historical photos of local leaders responsible for the birth of Silicon Valley, including many now considered to be visionaries, are on display. The influx of international populations to Silicon Valley will be highlighted in the new permanent display.
The museum’s goal is to leverage technology to enlarge the permanent displays upstairs. Other exhibit topics – such as “What happened to the Ohlone people who once lived along Adobe Creek?” – will have a surprising answer, Ward said: Some representatives of the Ohlone culture still live in the area today.
Ward reassured Rotarians that the second floor’s functioning 1932 train diorama – a longtime favorite with visitors young and old – will remain.
Marlene Cowan is a member of the Rotary Club of Los Altos. For more information, visit losaltosrotary.com.
