Santa Clara University

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 22, 2004 -- Silicon Valley History Online, Silicon Valley's largest and first multi-institutional history Website, will announce its formal public debut on Thursday, March 25.

The project, whose Website site is hosted and maintained by Santa Clara University, includes photographs, postcards, manuscripts and other materials related to the history of Santa Clara County. The debut is to be announced at a press conference at 10 a.m. at the Special Collections Program Room on the 5th floor, of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Library, 150 East San Fernando St., San Jose. 

Silicon Valley History Online brings together a unique combination of public and private Santa Clara County organizations: History San José, Santa Clara University Archives, San José State University Special Collections Department, California History Center at DeAnza College, Intel Museum, San José Public Library California Room and the Santa Clara City Library Heritage Pavilion.

Together, they will assemble, digitize, and place on line over 1,000 images from the participating institutions by October 2004.  The project also will produce lesson plans targeting fourth- and eleventh-grade classes.

Silicon Valley History Online will provide a glimpse of life in the Santa Clara Valley through time, from the pre-contact period of the Ohlone People and the Mission Period of the 18th Century through agricultural "Valley of Heart's Delight" and contemporary "Silicon Valley". Collectively, the images will explore the themes of cultural diversity, immigration, agriculture, commerce, education, technology, transportation, and urban life. It will include extensive images from the Santa Clara University archives, in Orradre Library.

Silicon Valley History Online is funded through a $144,000 grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. History San José administers the project, with its seniorArchivist Paula Jabloner acting as project director. "The Website will provide a gateway into Santa Clara County's past," said Jabloner.

An exhibit of selected original historic items to be included on Silicon Valley History Online will be on display as well. The initial pages of the Website can be viewed at http://www.siliconvalleyhistory.org

For more information about the Santa Clara University archives, see http://archives.scu.edu/.

For more information about the Press Conference, contact Media Relations at 408-554-5126.