The Los Gatos History Project E-newsletter
We’ve created the LGHP e-newsletter to keep you updated on the progress of the Los Gatos History Project (The Project) launched in September 2020, to tell untold stories of Los Gatos and surrounding communities through an exploration of NUMU’s permanent art and history collections.
The Los Gatos History Project serves to excavate, identify and share the stories and histories of as many local events, businesses, individual residents and communities as possible. Archiving and digitally cataloging the collection will certainly reveal hidden stories and histories and present new chapters in the lives of peoples and communities whose stories we may already think we know. The Project presents an opportunity to literally and figuratively open the museum’s collections “vault,” catalog the contents, make the artifacts accessible online to everyone, and excavate and share the under-told and untold stories and histories surely lying therein.
E-newsletters:
September 2023: Meet our new curator, Mountain Charlie’s wife and daughters, and the mysterious dough boy!
July 2023: Take a trip around Los Gatos, from Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad to the Golden Poppy on Main St.
May 2023: Learn about Frank & George, try out an optical illusion, or see if you recognize anyone from our cabinet card collection.
March 2023: Meet our morbid intern Hana, read all about Frank & George, and check out some watercolors and a cool cat lock.
January 2023: Get a sneak peek of our collections lab, say goodbye to Laura, check out some postcards, and help us solve a nutty history mystery.
November 2022: Meet our new Collections Intern, read the diary of actress Olivia de Havilland as she recounts her trip to Hollywood with Frank Ingerson and George Dennison, and help us identify a photograph.
September 2022: This month, the LGHP team has been busy updating The Los Gatos History Project: Uncovering Untold Stories exhibition with newly-cataloged objects from the permanent history collection! Learn more in our e-newsletter!
July 2022: In May, NUMU piloted a new format for Museum Explorer, by not just hosting school groups inside the museum, but bringing it directly into the classroom. In June, for the second year in a row, Town history was a vital element of these weeklong summer camps, the Footbridge Mural Project, that the museum offers in partnership with LGS Recreation. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
May 2022: Program Recap - Hear the Stories of the Ming Quong Sisters. Two weeks ago, dozens of local history enthusiasts and members of our community gathered for a virtual webinar to learn more about the Ming Quong Home. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
March 2022: Preserving Local History - An update on the Ming Quong Home in Los Gatos. Last April, we let you know about the fundraising effort to preserve the historic archway to the Ming Quong Home, which was in need of immediate stabilization and repairs. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
February 2022: Documenting the museum’s collections is vital to its active and responsible role in managing this key asset. It was quite a pleasant surprise to open one of our boxes and discover a beautiful, intricately designed, and very well-preserved silver service set that belonged to former Los Gatos resident, Lochie Rankin.
January 2022: We are thrilled to announce that our collections catalog is now available for you to view online! One of the major goals of the Los Gatos History Project is to make NUMU’s permanent collections accessible to the public. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
November 2021: We are very excited to announce that NUMU’s Los Gatos History Hall is open! We’ve been hard at work dreaming and scheming, and caring for the history collections since our history galleries went dark just before the Shelter-in-Place orders in 2020. And last month, the inaugural exhibition to come from the LGHP opened to the public! Learn more in our e-newsletter!
September 2021: “Inside the Los Gatos History Project” provided a special update to the community, showcasing all the work and progress that has been made on the Project in the past year, with a sneak preview of what’s to come. Guests also got to see the artifacts that are currently planned to be on display and had the opportunity to ask questions and have conversations about both the process and the choices of to-be-exhibited objects. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
July 2021: The Los Gatos History Project (LGHP), launched in September 2020, aims to tell untold stories of Los Gatos and surrounding communities through an exploration of NUMU’s permanent art and history collections. The LGHP serves to excavate, identify and share the stories and histories of as many local events, businesses, individual residents and communities as possible. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
May 2021: Discover how we are working towards preserving and cataloging the history of Los Gatos. One of the main goals of the LGHP was to update and refurnish the collections storage room, to bring it more in alignment with collections care standards and best practices. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
November 2020: The Los Gatos History Project is officially underway! The first step in this ambitious process is identifying and making records of all of the objects NUMU currently holds in its collections. Meet our Collections Registrar and check out some fun artifacts from the Permanent Collection. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
August 2020: We are very pleased to announce that a comprehensive excavation of our community’s history is now underway at NUMU! The Los Gatos History Project represents a long overdue undertaking to literally and figuratively open the Museum’s Art and History Collections vault, catalog and showcase the contents, and excavate the under-told and untold stories and histories of Los Gatos and surrounding communities. Learn more in our e-newsletter!
