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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Museum Fun: Jennifer Smith (left) practices washing and wringing out clothing the old-fashioned way as part of the Campbell Historical Museum's 'Hands on History' tour. Stith and other fourth-graders from Rosemary School also had a chance to learn about working in an orchard, old-time toys and games, and what local schools were like in the past.
The Balanced Life: Then and Now
By Michelle C. Crowe
Robert Pedretti, director of the Campbell Historical Museum and Ainsley House, explains the reason for choosing the museum's current exhibit featuring a full-size slice of life diorama of what recreation, home, community and work was like for early Campbell residents:
"We developed this exhibit with the perspective that, regardless of whether it's 2001 or 1889, there are four phases to a balanced life--recreation, home life, community and work," he says. "Even though there are few people around today who actually used many of the items displayed in this exhibit, many recall seeing similar items possessed or used by their parents or grandparents. The amazing part is that so many of the interests and activities have similar parallels today."
In fact, the two phrases Pedretti is most likely to hear are, "Hey, I remember this," along with, "I didn't know that." The key focus of the museum, 51 N. Central Ave., is to bring history alive and educate people about life in days gone by.
Recreation
Some pastimes are the same now as they were then--they have just evolved into different forms. Music was listened to with records played on Edison's wax cylinder phonograph or a victrola instead of with discs inserted into a CD or MP3 player. Hair art in Victorian times meant shaping designs with clipped locks of human hair and framing them for display instead of coloring hair on the head in the Crayola hues favored by today's youth.
Calligraphy and cameras were yesteryear's graphic design and digital photography--art forms still enjoyed today. Moving pictures were embraced as early as the 1920s, as evidenced by a videotape made from a 1922 film depicting the city's first mayor, Richard Morton, as a youth enjoying a rare snow flurry in the Valley of Heart's Delight, as Santa Clara County was then known. (Morton became mayor 30 years later in 1952.)
"The bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world," wrote feminist Susan B. Anthony in 1906. That two-wheeled invention and the physical exertion it required hastened the long-overdue demise of the corset and bustle. Although the basic 1890 bicycle model displayed looks remarkably similar to today's form, there's one key difference. "No chain. It used a drive shaft, which partly explains how women in long skirts could ride them," Pedretti says.
A picture of a full-skirted young Carrie Watson is next to the bicycle.
"I see that picture of her in that dress and wonder, 'How did she ride that thing without hurting herself?'" says Jeanette Watson, the former mayor of Campbell and the late Carrie Watson's daughter-in-law.
Watson also donated the sidesaddle (circa 1900) of her own maternal grandmother, Mary Gomes.
"Most of the items on display are way before my time," says Watson, who wrote Campbell, The Orchard City, a book on the city's history. "By the time I was growing up, horses were no longer on the city streets, and we didn't have any on the ranch. Although I don't recall ever seeing her ride, I do have one photograph of my grandfather on a horse with my grandmother standing next to him. She did save this saddle, so I know that at some point in her life horseback riding was important to her."
Home Life
"Some of the kitchen items displayed were among the first pieces we collected for the museum, such as the knife cleaner we got back in 1964 or 1965," Watson recalls. "Although I have lived with some of these items in my own home, it's not like I'm into collecting anything--I just got them passed down from my family."
Not everyone is so fortunate.
"I remember my grandmother using one of those," says Judy Carr, a Realtor with Campbell-based Altas Realty, referring to a hand-cranked meat grinder. Carr collects kitchen utensils that remind her of items found in her own grandmother's kitchen. Although most people could identify the ice cream maker and butter churn, the home-life component features almost indescribable units that perform such then-needed tasks as removing cherry pits, slicing string beans and separating cream.
The revolutionary Hoosier cabinet, together with the icebox and cook stove, form the heart of this section.
"All of these devices greatly improved life for early housewives, particularly by bringing the kitchen inside and into one room. Before, water was outside, the cook fire was outside, clothes-washing was outside and cold storage was down in the basement," says professional organizer Tirena Say, the owner of Organized Life. The metal-lined drawers kept out vermin and bugs, and the upper shelves held spices, allowing cooks to efficiently work in one space."
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Firebrand: Bob Pedretti, director of the Campbell Historical Museum, stands in front of the museum's exhibit.
Community
Although most residents maintained a kitchen garden, there were items that could only be purchased at one of the three local general stores. A shopping trip then was part social event, part household necessity. The closest many people have come to an old-fashioned mercantile emporium is through depictions in books and television shows such as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. Yet the display is nearly as much of a treasure hunt as a trip through Campbell's Antique Courtyard. From $1.79 hats to eyeglasses, Butterfly-brand tints for coloring clothing to Van Heusen collars, town merchants fulfilled the multiple roles of fashionistas ("Yes, calico is the new pink this year, Mrs. Fulbottom"), pharmacists, grocers and creditors. Bartering was expected, and a scale and egg graders were available to make trades as fair and accurate as possible.
Stores also formed the social core of the community. A checkers game on a barrelhead was a standing component of any self-respecting merchant. A warm fire in the stove naturally gathered shoppers together to discuss crops, politics and gossip.
Work
While most Campbellites know that the city's original claim to fame was for the quality of its fruit, particularly prunes and apricots, few know that its popularity extended into award-worthiness. Campbell fruit was honored at the prestigious Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915.
Featuring actual equipment, advertisements and boxes used in local factories, including the Ainsley Packing Company and Del Monte, visitors can try their packing skills with faux fruit and original-sized cans to find out exactly how many peach halves or beans fit into their respective containers.
Local schoolchildren who participate in the museum's Hands-On-History Program get an education in the skills and pleasures of yesteryear life. They get to create their own labels. They also practice their bartering skills, make tea and clean laundry.
Although the museum's components could easily bring in thousands of dollars if the pieces were auctioned to collectors on eBay, Pedretti gratefully acknowledges that most were donations from local families and businesses, such as the newly received portraits of William and Verenda Rucker. The Ruckers were the parents of the wife of city founder Benjamin Campbell. Great-great-grandson Chuck Berry donated the items, which had previously been housed at the Sutter's Fort Museum. Usable, historically significant items in good condition are always welcome to be examined by Pedretti, his staff and volunteers.
"People sometimes think history is boring," Pedretti says. "I always point out it's like the diary we have of Lillian Smith, who was the daughter of Campbell High School's first principal. In it, she writes about some of the same things we do today--what was interesting, who was boring and things she looked forward to, like parties and Christmas. Even as our world changes, people and what's important are remarkably the same."
The Campbell Historical Museum's regular hours are Thursday through Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. School groups are welcome Monday through Wednesday for the Hands-on-History Program. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, $2.50 for youth age 7 to 17 and free to those under 7. Call 408.866.2119 for more information.
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Campbell, California
