Sponsors Sought for Exhibits at Historical Society Museum

By Hacienda Network Staff Writer

The Amador-Livermore Valley Historical Society, working with local corporations, is developing exhibits for display in the museum and to travel to Pleasanton companies.

The society operates the Valley Museum, housed in the focal point of downtown: the beautiful former Pleasanton Town Hall at 603 Main Street. The building was constructed in 1914 and completely renovated in the 1980s.

The first exhibition available for sponsorship is the Evolution of Telecommunications, 1880 to Today. It's an exhibit of 200 telephones, switchboards, early telegraph equipment, ringers, annunciators, telephone instruments, tools, test equipment, and insulators from the last 120 years up to the modern cell phone. A research library of historic ephemera including instruction manuals, practice manuals, periodicals, stories, advertising, photos, and catalogs will be part of the exhibit.

The society is also creating an exhibit depicting the Pleasanton years of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, whose palatial estate was on the site where Castlewood Country Club now stands. Mrs. Hearst, mother of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, was an active member of the community from 1896 to her death in 1919. A corporate sponsorship partnership is available.

Remembering the Past

Encouraging and helping valley residents to cherish the past and preserve today for tomorrow, the society was founded in 1963 to document for the community the history of the area.

More than 12,000 people visited the museum in 1999, in addition to the 5,000 Pleasanton schoolchildren who enjoyed an interpretive talk and tour as part of the society's educational outreach programs.

Recent exhibits have documented the history of the valley and its people. To celebrate California's Sesquicentennial, the museum displayed a collection of rare Gold Rush items commemorating the gold seekers who came through the valley to reach the gold fields. Heritage photographs of the Tri-Valley showed scenes of Dublin, Livermore and the building of the Calaveras Dam. The Alameda County Fairs of Yesteryear exhibit celebrated the fair.

A Scholarly Destination

The museum attracts scholars from all over California. The archives contain over 3,000 photographs, dozens of manuscripts and documents, rare books, video documentation, and oral interview transcripts and tapes. An on-site library, open to the public, houses books on local, regional and California history that support local events and places. To help visitors learn about the valley's past, more than a dozen publications are for sale.

For information, please contact the museum at (925) 462-2766. Visitors are welcome Wednesday through Friday, from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm; Saturday morning during the Farmer's Market beginning at 10:00 am, and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. If your company is interested in sponsoring an exhibit, please e-mail denisehowe@msn.com.

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