Every city and county, along with every person, takes pride in
where they came from. And one place this pride is illustrated is at
local museums and historical societies that strive to educate the
community about the future by using the past.
Every city and county, along with every person, takes pride in where they came from. And one place this pride is illustrated is at local museums and historical societies that strive to educate the community about the future by using the past.
“History is today, too,” said Georgana Gularte, chief volunteer at the San Juan Bautista Historical Society Museum. “We are making history right now. In order to make history, you need to know about history.”
This can be done by saving old clothes or papers, putting together photo albums, preserving historical buildings or keeping birth and death records.
Many Gilroy residents stop by the Gilroy Museum to look up information on their family history, said Lucy Solorzano, the museum coordinator. Museum officials are attempting to compile a complete list of city records, including birth, death and marriage records.
San Benito County houses a historical museum as well as a historical park where history officials and volunteers have moved buildings threatened by demolition.
Also, the park refurbishes the buildings and furniture. This allows the museum to preserve and restore old landmarks to the county, said Sharlene Van Rooy, a volunteer with the San Benito County Historical Society Museum.
“Our mission is to educate people about the history of San Benito County through public meetings and discussions at the museum,” Van Rooy said.
While San Benito County preserves landmarks at its historical park, San Juan Bautista works hard to conserve the city’s mission.
Archaeologist Ruben Mendoza has been the self-described “default curator” at the mission for the past seven years while teaching archeology at California State University, Monterey Bay.
Mendoza’s first experience with the San Juan Bautista Mission was during a field trip from Fresno as a child.
“I wasn’t into school. I remember standing there in the dirt plaza fascinated with what I thought was a ghost town,” Mendoza said. “… It’s a place out of time and space. I sensed something special about the place. I became obsessed with history. I wanted to learn more about what I’d seen.”
This kind of experience and motivation is what many hope will occur when students visit museums and historical landmarks.
Each of the four museums offer tours by appointment to groups of students, usually of elementary-school age. The children learn about how each city or county was named and founded. They get to look at old photographs that tell more than words ever could about what life was like before televisions and cars.
The Gilroy Museum has trunks of reproductions of artifacts that people can check out and take to classrooms or scout meetings, Solorzano said. The trunks contain clothes, toys and games.
The museums even have treasured items.
For San Juan Bautista, it’s an old receipt container from the Great Depression era. The container is from an old grocery store in the town and is a “primary research material for what the Depression was like in San Juan,” Gularte said.
Gilroy’s prized possession is its collection of newspapers that date back to 1868. The collection allows for easy, one-stop access to 150 years of Gilroy city history.
Preserving history can also mean conserving the present. The Gilroy Museum continually conserves things occurring now that will make history, including Pokemon memorabilia, Solorzano said.
While the four museums share the same goals, they offer different programs and perspectives.
Gilroy
Gilroy’s museum, established in 1963, is funded by the city, donations and grants. It offers tours along with walking tours in conjunction with the city’s historical society.
The museum houses three basic rooms – one contains old city history dating back to the Spanish-Mexican period; the second, early city history, including information on schools, churches, businesses and the fire and police departments; and the third, items that would be found in the home.
The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located at 195 West Fifth St. For more information, call
(408) 848-0470.
Morgan Hill
History buffs in Morgan Hill have two sites to pique their interests – the Morgan Hill Museum and Villa Mira Monte.
The museum is housed in the former Acton house where they were early settlers in the area. Villa Mira Monte is the estate the “old Morgan Hill house” sits on. The house was the home of Hiram Morgan Hill, after whom the town was named.
The museum was established in 1984 and Villa Mira Monte was taken over by the historical society in 1993.
The museum houses historical furnishings, artifacts from the Hill family, pictures and a huge basket-weaving collection from the Ohlone Indians.
The old Morgan Hill house was renovated and opened in 1986 for weddings, receptions and meetings.
The museum is funded through donations, memberships and grants.
The old Morgan Hill house, open every Friday from noon to 3 p.m. and every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., offers a gift shop for visitors. The museum is currently open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m., the first and third Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and most Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m.
The museum is located at 600 W. Main Ave. For more information, call (408) 779-5755. Villa Mira Monte is located at 17860 Monterey Road. For more information, call (408) 782-7191.
San Benito County
While the county’s historical society museum offers pictures and records about the past, its historical park houses historical landmarks, some needing renovations. Some of these landmarks include a cabin and cottage bar. The museum is staffed by four volunteers and is in need of seven or eight more volunteers.
Funding is through membership and donations.
The museum works with the Hollister Downtown Association giving walking tours of the area.
The historical museum is located at 498 Fifth St. and can be reached at
(831) 635-0335. Hours are Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m.
San Juan Bautista
The museum’s collection is provided by people who live in the Mission City. The buildings are the main part of San Juan Bautista and its history. Currently, the museum is putting together a book detailing the history of the city’s volunteer fire department.
The museum is funded by membership and donations. Four volunteers staff the museum.
Hours are by appointment. For more information, call (831) 623-2001.
