Willow Glen Resident

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Photograph by Diana Diroy

Remember When: Julie Pifer, 69, of Willow Glen has been a volunteer with History San Jose for 20 years. She is part of the nonprofit's 'Portraits of the Past,' which researches, writes scripts, narrates and acts in vintage costumes.

Blast from the past at History San Jose

By Alicia Upano

History may be a thing of the past, but dedicated volunteers work to keep it alive.

At History San Jose, nearly 250 volunteers devote their time to making history educational and entertaining. Unlike other nonprofit groups, where volunteers often come and go with the ebb and flow of the economy, History San Jose volunteers have longevity.

At a recent recognition dinner, two Campbell and six Willow Glen residents were honored for decades of service.

"We could not operate History San Jose without the volunteers," says Marilyn Guida, History San Jose's education director. "They are the heart and soul and sweat of History San Jose."

One of those longtime volunteers is Campbell resident Joyce Barsanti, who has been working in the gift shop for 10 years. Willow Glen residents Julie Pifer and Pat Olson and Campbell resident Malcolm Gaddis have each put in 20 years. Willow Glen resident Ethel Reinegger, 86, was one of only three volunteers honored for 25 years of volunteer work.

"I was surprised it was 25 years," Reinegger says. "After a while, you kind of lose track."

Reinegger says time passes when she's having fun. She began working as a docent after a family friend, the late historian Clyde Arbuckle, encouraged Reinegger to get involved with the museum. In the early '80s it was known as the San Jose Historical Museum. In 1985, Reinegger joined the outreach program Vintage Reflections, a group of women who reenact historical events for community groups and schools.

The group has been renamed Portraits from the Past, and includes nearly 50 men and women who research, write scripts, narrate and perform in vintage costumes. Earlier this year, the group devised a program for the Orchard School in north San Jose during its 150th anniversary that portrayed the school's early teachers and principal.

To Reinegger, Portraits from the Past has been a way to have fun while learning history. The group has also depicted life among Almaden Quicksilver miners and the lives of women during those times--scrubbing floors and doing laundry by hand. The group also highlights women who were ahead of their time, such as Clara Foltz, the first female lawyer in California.

Olson, who is a substitute teacher in the Campbell and Willow Glen schools, enjoys depicting Selma Olinder, the namesake of Olinder Elementary School in San Jose. The actresses in Portraits from the Past don't have lines, but Olson makes up for it with acting skill. As Olinder, she shakes a ruler at the audience and looks at them crossly, Olson explains with a laugh.

"I used to like to play dress-up as a girl, and this is a way for me to dress up as an adult," Olson says.

Pifer, who helps with the script writing, also enjoys acting and singing. She performs in a piece where she strips out of her vintage costume to illustrate how many layers women wore in the Victorian dress era.

"At 69, I think I'm a little over the hill to be flouncing out in my Victorian underwear," Pifer says.

Even after she's stripped off a corset, drawers, chemise and petticoats, Pifer's dress is still more conservative than any beachgoer's.

"But it feels different when you know it's underwear," she says.

Pifer says the women who perform in Portraits from the Past are emissaries for the museum's cause, by bringing history to the community rather than the other way around.

The shows cost $250 for offsite one-hour performances, and are scheduled 10 times a year. The proceeds benefit the museum.

Like Pifer, Gaddis has found a way to incorporate his interests into his volunteer work.

The retired electrical engineer volunteers in the museum's vehicular restoration division. He and several other volunteers work on the museum's three streetcars, several Model Ts, a vintage electric car from Campbell that was owned by Jeanette Watson's family, a 1924 San Jose police car, and a firetruck.

While some of the other volunteers learn the trade on the job, Gaddis was practically born to work on vehicles with steel wheels. Gaddis, 81, says a train ran behind the Glendale home where he was born. As he grew older, his aunt took him riding on streetcars.

"I always like the 'ding ding ding' of the bells," Gaddis says. "I like steel wheels that run on rails."

In 1929, the beginning of the Depression, Gaddis' family moved to Santa Cruz, where he continued his infatuation with street cars on Pacific Avenue. Eventually, his interest became his profession when he began working with Southern Pacific Railroad after a stint in the U.S. Navy.

Gaddis worked up and down California and as far as Texas, testing new General Motors, General Electric or American Locomotive Co. trains. On trips from Los Angeles to E. St. Louis, Gaddis would gauge how many gallons it took to go a mile, how the trains climbed hills and how efficient the brakes were. Before he left Southern Pacific in 1985, he restored business rail cars.

After Southern Pacific, he worked for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's light rail for a decade, while concurrently volunteering at History San Jose. At the museum he helped with restoring old streetcars, including the same streetcar he admired as a teen on Pacific Avenue.

As he gets older, Gaddis says he doesn't spend as much time at History San Jose as he used to, though he still offers his mechanical skills and runs the streetcar at History Park once or twice a month. At home in Campbell, he also has a garden railroad around his house and a small car that has become an attraction for neighborhood children.

Campbell resident Joyce Barsanti, a retired Saratoga teacher, began volunteering in the museum's gift shop a decade ago after a friend recruited her. There, she sells some of the most comprehensive books on the city's history, homemade products such as jams, delicate glass objects, and hand-painted silk scarves. She enjoys interacting with the children browsing through the store, and tourists who visit from other countries.

The museum is always looking for more help, Guida says, particularly for docents for the 26 historic buildings at History Park and the two in downtown San Jose. Guida also needs volunteers for the school programs, a hands-on history lesson where students can play and learn in a historically authentic environment.

"It's a lot of work, but it's very gratifying," Reinegger says.

For more information or to schedule student tours at History San Jose, visit www.historysanjose.org. To volunteer, call 408.918.1040 or email aramezany@historysanjose.org.