Entries from March 2009 ↓

Yesterday, I arrived at History Park to see hundreds of people enjoying a beautiful spring day. But it wasn’t any other Sunday, it was History Day. History Day, organized by the Santa Clara County Office of Education, is an opportunity for students to conduct in depth research and analysis on a historical topic. This year the theme is “The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies.” I’m happy to report that several exciting and thought provoking projects from Santa Clara County are going on to the state competition.

Students could enter projects in the form or a paper, individual or group exhibit, individual or group documentary, or individual or group website. For the first round of evaluation I was selected to judge Senior Group Exhibits. I worked with another judge, Mai Nguyen, to review three exhibits. There were two exhibits about Otto von Bismark and one exhibit about Albert Einstein. When we spoke with the students I was very impressed with the time and effort they put into their projects as a group and their knowledge about the individual they selected to study. Two of the exhibits were selected to move onto the final round.

After a short break and a cookie, it was time for the final round of judging. For this round I was judging Junior Group Exhibits. I was very impressed with the submissions by the junior high school students. The exhibits were well designed, researched, and written. My fellow judge, Brian Murphy, and I were very pleased to send exhibits about Marie Curie and Rosa Parks on to the state competition.

Overall, it was a great day at History Park. The 40 judges were very busy reviewing over 60 submissions and making some difficult decisions. I hope the students and their families were able to enjoy the park while they were waiting to hear if their project was going on to the state competition. The trolley seemed to be busy all day and I know several buildings were open. They certainly enjoyed O’Brien’s; I heard that we were out of ice cream by the end of the day. The awards ceremony took place in the Firehouse at 3:30 pm. Laura Guardino, the History Day Coordinator, awarded 32 groups and individuals who will be representing Santa Clara County at the state History Day competition. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I’m looking forward to History Day 2010.

The Peralta Adobe is the oldest building in San Jose, and until recently it’s floor reflected that all too well.  The Adobe consists of two rooms: a living area and a bedroom.  The bedroom has a dirt floor that was once packed tight and over the years it had become worn with a thick layer of fine, loose sand.  Last fall HSJ worked with Bill and Athena Steen, adobe experts, on repacking the floor.  In the six months since then we noticed that the floor was already wearing significantly from the very popular Adobe Days school program.  The Steens graciously paid us another visit last week while they were passing through for a conference.  The floor was repaired and sealed with several coats of linseed oil which should protect it well.  In addition, extra rugs will be put down on high traffic areas so that the floor will last as long as possible.

Four years ago, a small group of volunteers in History San Jose’s Archives took on the challenging task of organizing and indexing our extensive collection of Santa Clara County Court records. At the time the project began, we estimated that there were some 25,000 court cases in the files, spanning the period from 1850-1944.  In the intervening years, eight different volunteers have contributed to this massive effort. Those cases that so far have been indexed are now searchable by the name of the plaintiff or defendant, criminal or civil charge, date, or case number. This process has often proven to be quite time consuming, as the documents are often not in numerical or date order. Compounding that difficulty has been the challenge of deciphering 19th Century penmanship. Everyone involved in this project breathes easier knowing that the typewriter entered common usage in the 1880’s!

While many of the cases concern actions on such mundane topics as unpaid taxes, contract disputes, public drunkenness, or divorces and child custody, we have also encountered cases involving attempted (or successful) murders, armed robberies, livestock rustling, kidnapping, and even slavery.

Last month, long-time volunteer Joan Helms completed the cataloging of the 10,000th case in our index. This particular case concerned someone who rented a horse and buggy outfit in 1869. While he was using it, the harness broke, and the plaintiff and his wife and child were thrown from the buggy. $5,000 (over $75,000 in today’s dollars) in damages was sought by the plaintiff. Unfortunately, the records for this case do not include any indication of the court’s final ruling.

Certificate of Manumission for Sampson Gleaves

“November 14, 1854
Know all men that hereby certify that the receipt of all demands against Sampson Gleaves for further services is hereby fully acknowledged in the presence of the following witness, and further state that the same Sampson Gleaves is forever free.”
History San Jose Collection

This photo is part of a group of snapshots taken on Christmas Day 1966. They were found in the back of a photo album of radio antennas and equipment. The photographer/owner of the album is Henry Harding, a ham radio operator who worked for Jennings Radio Manufacturing in San Jose. Henry used a Polaroid camera at this time and this image has the casual look and feel of mid-century America.

These are three exceptional examples of draping and were used by students in the San Jose State University Home Economics Department for a draping or pattern making class. They may look like ordinary dress forms, but look closely at the size of the measuring tape and pin cushion; they are half size models of a size 12 dress form and are less than 30 inches tall and have a waist of 19 inches. Half size models were popular in the mid-twentieth century because they took up less space in the classroom and saved students money by using less fabric. The patterns that resulted from draping on a half size dress form could be graded up to a normal size.

There are two techniques used for creating clothing patterns: drafting and draping. Drafting uses measurements to create a two dimensional or flat pattern. Draping manipulates a piece of fabric directly on a dress form or person to create the design. Many designers, and students, create an illustration on paper and then drape what they have drawn on a dress from. Inexpensive fabric is used to recreate the design by pinning the fabric in place on the dress form. This method allows the designer to study the line, silhouette, and proportion and allows for changes before the pattern is created. Once the designer is satisfied with the draping of all of the construction details, seams, darts, gathers, pleats, zippers, buttons, and hems, are marked. Then the fabric is removed from the dress form and is used to create the flat pattern.

These dress forms were donated by the Estate of Dr. Barbara Christensen in 1995. Dr. Christensen was a professor in the Home Economics Department at San José State University. The department closed in the late 1981. The dress forms are featured in the exhibition She Made It! at the Leonard and David McKay Gallery at the Pasetta House in History Park through August 16, 2009.