Sorting out Menlo Park's history Sorting out Menlo Park's history (December 10, 2003)

Archivist organizes hundreds of papers, photographs and news clippings

By Yenda Prado

Special to the Almanac

With thousands of newspaper clippings, and hundreds of pictures to organize, the Menlo Park Historical Association has welcomed the help of Menlo Park resident Kathy Restaino, who started as a volunteer two years ago and quickly became a paid staff archivist.

She has been instrumental in organizing and filing two huge collections: hundreds of pictures taken over several decades by the late Elmo Hayden, who ran the former Menlo Camera Shop for 50 years; and boxes of correspondence and papers of former mayor Ira Bonde, also deceased, who served the city for more than 20 years, beginning with a stint on the Transportation Commission in 1951, then moving on to the Planning Commission and City Council.

Ms. Restaino credits association stalwart Jeanne Bone for her decision to take on the work. "She taught me a lot," says Ms. Restaino, who after 25 years as an analyst preparing reports on audience ratings for television stations, decided a career change was in order when she moved to Menlo Park two years ago.

The New Jersey native with a degree in history now works part-time as a librarian for the University of San Francisco campus in Cupertino.

"I've always been a history buff and have since taken library courses," she says. "This [work] fit in nicely."

Ms. Restaino says her favorite archiving project so far is the Elmo Hayden collection of photographs. A legendary local figure who died in 1998, Mr. Hayden took photographs in the community of historical buildings, such as the Nativity church and Central school, and community events, such as graduations, and student and church activities.

"There is a lot of day-to-day history in these photographs," says Ms. Restaino. "It was a treat for me to see a visual record of Menlo Park's history."

The Ira Bonde collection consists of papers and newspaper clippings regarding civic and political matters, including Menlo Park elections and issues such as zoning, traffic control, and the construction of the Dumbarton bridge.

There are three boxes of papers, including letters written by and to Mr. Bonde. "This is his word on things that occurred in Menlo Park," she says.

Ms. Restaino's job is to organize the papers, photographs and other information to make them easily accessible.

"People often come in to find out about a certain topic," she says. "For example, we had someone recently looking through the Nativity Church files to do research on the church."

Within each subject heading -- such as Nativity Church, Central School, and Dumbarton Bridge construction -- photographs are organized chronologically and entered into a computerized database. The collections are kept separate but each collection is organized by the same subject headings.

Photographs that aren't identified are placed under subject headings such as "Persons" for unknown people.

Newspaper clippings are also organized by subject but are kept separate from photographs. Volunteers monitor newspapers for relevant news clippings.

The history association is located in the basement of the Menlo Park Library and is open to the public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. During this time visitors can view historical materials of Menlo Park and nearby communities, such as Woodside and Portola Valley.
INFORMATION

** Contributions to the association, including photographs, are welcome as long as they represent Menlo Park history. Due to space limits, some items may be referred to other historical associations with the consent of the donor. ** People interested in becoming volunteers are asked to call Frank Helfrich at 330-2522.

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