Museum Explorer | The Los Gatos History Project (LGHP)

In NUMU’s Museum Explorer: LGHP program, students will engage with history in an interactive setting, and develop their observational and critical thinking skills.  Each program supports the California State History and Social Sciences Content Standards and is led by a museum staff member. Students will learn about the Los Gatos History Project, receive a brief tour of the current history exhibition, and will have the opportunity to observe, and handle once programs are in-person, related objects from the museum’s permanent history collection. By using their close-looking skills, students will make hypotheses and draw conclusions about the origin and use of the objects, and understand how they connect to a larger historical context.

Questions? Email booking@numulosgatos.org  

LGHP Program Goals

  1. Practice speaking, listening, and observational skills through carefully looking at and describing objects and artifacts.

  2. To compare and contrast the past and the present.

  3. To learn about the indigenous population of the local area.

  4. To introduce the complex interactions between different cultures, both in the past and the present.

  5. To understand the role museums play in preserving history.

K-2

Programs for grades K-2 will emphasize the passage of time, and how the historical past differs from the present.  Objects used during these programs will provide students with an opportunity to make observations about how people used to live, and contrast that with how people live today. 

3-5

Programs for grades 3-5 will emphasize the local indigenous population, the Spanish and Mexican periods of California and their effect on the indigenous population, overland migration to California, and the broader immigrant experience. Objects used during these programs will provide students with an opportunity to learn about the representative culture and/or people, and gain a greater understanding about their daily lives.

Teacher Resources

Featured
Los Gatos History Project: Uncovering Untold Stories
Oct 15
Los Gatos History Project: Uncovering Untold Stories

The Los Gatos History Project is NUMU’s unprecedented effort to catalog and dive deeper into its permanent collection. This exhibition, the first to come out of the project, presents a selection of objects that have given the museum more questions than answers. By taking a critical look at these objects and the stories they tell, the exhibition will prompt visitors to ask: Who made these objects? Why did the museum collect them? What can we learn from them? And whose stories are missing? Through this exhibition, visitors will gain a greater understanding of museum collecting practices, and a greater appreciation for the hidden complexities of Los Gatos history.

Collections Lab
Sep 29
Collections Lab

Our long-awaited Collections Lab, opened in September of 2023, is a demonstration and prep lab that serves as a dedicated space to display artifacts, conduct conservation efforts, and present educational programs, open to the public during regular museum hours. Through this project, NUMU aims to demonstrate that history is anything but static! The Collections Lab is closed on Thursdays.

NUMU’s Museum Explorer Program is made possible by
The Town of Los Gatos, The Valley Foundation & in part by a grant from the County of Santa Clara’s Historic Grant Program.