3rd Friday: History Jam

Get hands-on with history. Discover untold stories and local lore. Learn about the work being done to protect and preserve the legacy of Santa Cruz County and beyond.

Live tattooing and Santa Cruz tattoo history with Nikos de la Rosa and Nane Alejandrez.

Enjoy a drink, story, recipe, or creation in Brewstory with the New Bohemia Brewing Company (NuBo). View Bob Welch’s amazing collection of California beer labels and artifacts dating 1880-1950, create your own coaster, or simply enjoy a drink at the bar poured by NuBo.

Hear and learn more about the Movements for Change: Bob Fitch Photographs history pod in the History of Santa Cruz County Exhibition then write a postcard to Bob with Karen Shaffer. Bob Fitch documented nonviolent peace and social justice leaders and movements. He photographed local activists, including immigrant rights marches and war protests. Karen will be sharing the stories behind the selection of powerful shots taken by Bob Fitch in our gallery and his life as a political organizer.

Bring your friend (or make a new one!) and share your beloved recipe history in a communal feast with The Heritage Food Project and The Curated Feast. Look through recipe books and scraps from our MAH archives. Take a seat, grab a plate, and write your story while learning how to make a delicious jam recipe!

Learn about Santa Cruz’s birth history over the last 150 years, focusing on the limited recordings of births performed by midwives, with the Birth Happens in Santa Cruz County: Customs, Places, and Cultures project. Map out your birth place, share your story, and experience the different environments midwives have performed birthing practices.

Become an archaeologist and process artifacts with the Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. Learn about the daily life for Native people in the Mission system at the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park and how you can get involved through the Summer Archaeology Program!

Join the Watsonville Charter School of the Arts (WCSA) in celebrating their history of Santa Cruz County landmarks with their beautiful history art project exhibition. Marvel at the paintings, clay sculptures, dioramas, and more!

Explore our archives with the MAH Publications committee. Listen to live readings from the recent History Publication #8: Do You Know My Name?, take a photograph with historical figures, and transcribe diaries from the 1800s!

Reflect on the dark past and share how you can create light for a hopeful future with Deirdre Sue Lister in Push Through: A History of Abuse. Alongside a timeline of the repeated history of abuse against women and girls, Deirdre will provide a space for dialogue about healing through writing and how to take action.

How would others remember you? Share your life story through natural materials with the Evergreen Cemetery Committee and seal it in a jar or turn in into a boutonnière.

Create History To Be Proud Of. Be the generation to end plastic pollution in our oceans with Coast Redwood Middle School students. Dive into the subject of modern day single-use plastics that have made their way into our oceans harming sea life and repurpose garbage into useful products and art!

The Future of Our City display created by Santa Cruz County students with the help of MAH Community Builders. Be a part of the future of our city by creating your own citizen, sharing their story, and adding it to the display!

Learn more about your neighbor and their life story with a game of History Bingo with MAH Intern Marylin Padilla. Explore the museum, ask other visitors fun questions about their history, complete the bingo squares, and get a fun prize!

Create, learn, and play with your very own Chinese Checkers board game with MAH Intern Juliana Cheng.

Share your personal timeline in your own tree ring biography with MAH Intern Radhika Tandon. Build a mobile made of your history that looks like the tree rings of a redwood tree!