This Peninsula warehouse safeguards the strange and historic side of innovation

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The Museum of American Heritage, nestled in the heart of Palo Alto, is Silicon Valley’s only museum dedicated to celebrating the mechanical marvels and electrical oddities of the 18th to 20th centuries.  The lifeblood of the MOAH, however, is in its extensive warehouse located in San Carlos. The over 10,000 artifacts stored there provide a detailed map of the history of technological innovation. 

However, these relics are not intended to be locked away. The MOAH staff is motivated to ensure that the contents of its warehouse are seen and studied, whether that be through collaborations with other museums and local groups or by opening its doors to the surrounding residents.  

“I feel a little sad (that) some things come in here and they don’t get out to be seen very often,” said the president of the museum’s board, Jim Wall. “So it’s always good … when people come down to the warehouse and get to visit what we have here.”

The warehouse, although not officially open to the public, offers private tours that anyone can request. The exposure these visits award the museum is critical to its continued operation. 

“We’re a completely privately funded museum. We get no government support ever,” Wall said. “We’re always looking for corporate support or finding another foundation that believes that (we) shouldn’t lose all of this technology, and piece by piece, it will disappear unless there’s someone like us to hold it.”

Such resources are more challenging to come by in today’s political reality, where federal funding cuts to grants sustaining museums have caused an increase in demand for private sector donors, which institutions like the MOAH must now compete with. 

The museum and its warehouse are almost entirely volunteer-run, with three staff members, 50 active and around 200 part-time volunteers. 

Despite the dedication of these volunteers, “a lot of times it’s just enough to barely stay ahead of people donating,” according to Wall. 

“We get between 20 and 80 items a month that … need to be dealt with,” he said. “We work with some of the local colleges: history students, museum studies students, (who) are looking to enhance their resume, get some work experience. Having a young crowd of enthusiastic volunteers is wonderful.”

One such student is Samuel Trumble, a recent graduate of Cañada College’s history and anthropology programs. 

Trumble applauded the self-led nature of the museum’s internship program and how it empowers students to pursue relevant fields.

“When you get started there, they’re really open to let you do whatever you’re interested in doing: you can bring in new artifacts, research them, or you could go into restoration,” Trumble said. “(The museum’s) openness to let you find your own path and do what you enjoy doing is the big key.”

Over the past year and a half, Trumble has worked on three or four long-term restoration projects, including a 1920s washing machine and a 1900s camera. He has been most proud of a display case he built for an early marionette. 

“I built an acrylic display box, and I made it look like the original packaging that the marionette would have come in when it was originally sold in stores, and now that’s on display front and center at the museum,” he said. “As someone who wants to go into this field, having a piece that I’ve worked on in the museum … brings me a lot of joy.”

Trumble’s experience working within the MOAH’s warehouse has reaffirmed his belief in the power of small museums. He hopes more people will realize the misconception that only the bigger, more famous museums hold important artifacts, that instead, the stories attached to each relic in the collections of places like the MOAH reflect equally important aspects of history. 

For example, the rich past of the Bay Area’s early tech companies. Housed on the shelves of the San Carlos warehouse is a significant set of old Hewlett-Packard devices. 

“We believe now we have the largest collection of Hewlett-Packard equipment on the West Coast, and we’re trying to add to it as we can …” Wall said. “We’d love to partner with Hewlett-Packard directly. Again, partnership fundraising would be wonderful, but we also feel that Hewlett-Packard owes it to their founders to preserve their legacy.”

In the museum’s effort to showcase as many of its artifacts as possible, it loans many pieces to other local historical sites. This list includes museums in Palo Alto, Los Altos, Saratoga, Santa Clara and San Carlos, as well as exhibits adorning the San Francisco International Airport. 

With at least 20 museums in the Peninsula alone, local historical centers are eager to join forces.

“Because (there are) so many small museums, it’s really easy to find people to collaborate with, but because so many of us have a staff of 10 or fewer, the question isn’t, ‘Do you want to collaborate?’ The question is, ‘Do you have the time and staff capacity to (collaborate)?’” said Zoe Timmerman, the MOAH’s operations manager. 

The MOAH’s immediate goal is to cultivate sustainable forms of revenue. So, while expanding the warehouse could increase its opportunities for restoration, taking in more collections and providing an environment for learning to more members of the community, Wall reflects that, in reality, “the number one goal for a museum is to be here next year.”   

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