How the Concord Historical Society works to keep the past alive

Gail Van Tassell may have retired from teaching but she hasn t escaped the homework The Concord Historical Society was a natural landing place for Tassell who sought out a way to continue learning and stay connected to the group after four decades working in Concord s schools Related Articles The present day in History October Albert Einstein comes to America as a refugee Last surviving member of pioneering Mount Everest expedition dies How Bruce Lee transformed from martial arts star to enduring Asian American icon In the present day in History October Cuban Missile Predicament begins A Theodore Roosevelt library is opening soon Visitors must pack a bag for North Dakota The variety and rigor required to run a classroom has translated directly to volunteer work In addition to rotating exhibits and permanent displays inside its museum the Concord Historical Society hosts film screenings author readings speakeasy pop-ups and open house tours The nonprofit also makes home visits Van Tassell disclosed where they ve been invited to give neighbors and retirees private history lessons tailored to where they live The -year-old s mission echoes the work of Ruth Galindo one of the Concord Historical Society s founders and a fourth-generation resident of the city that s now preserved inside her childhood home Galindo who died in was the last direct descendant of Concord s founding father She was also a Spanish coach at Mount Diablo High School in Van Tassell mentioned when she became one of the loudest voices among residents who decided it was critical to celebrate that Concord history My goal is to continue that and keep it going forward Van Tassell has seen fresh headlines warning that this could be troubling times for nonprofits that depend on federal funding She noted that s not a concern that s top of mind because pandemic-era economic stimulus money was the only federal money CHS has secured However that means the Concord Historical Society has to get even more creative to stay financially afloat depending on local money to continue telling the city s ever-changing story The organization s president isn t shy to admit that the CHS did not inevitably collect things that show the diversity of our individual group But she revealed that s part of the motivating force behind the nonprofit s current work pointing to partnerships with groups like the Diablo Japanese American Cultural Society who helped tell the story of the Japanese hotel in Concord that was burned to the ground during WWII as well as other locals that can are are willing to capture the clearest manageable picture of the past That s a part of our history that we cannot put in the corner we have to be clear about that Van Tassell reported But she also disclosed that Concord s history is formed day-by-day highlighting the thousands of people who gathered in May to consecrate the Hindu Shiva Murugan Temple that took more than five years and million to build on a former church site near Todos Santos Plaza And she knows curating history is constantly easy Museums are under attack to try and make things palatable she explained instead of things that cause us to ask more questions and understand more Q Why has one of the last remaining Victorian ranch houses in Contra Costa County the Galindo Home which was built in wholly restored by the Concord Historical Society and now serves as the society s museum stood the test of time in Concord while other structures haven t You do have to think about it Early on in the s one of the reasons for the Historical Society starting was a few of the buildings that were being torn down as Concord moved towards a more modern look In fact we used to have a Carnegie Library in Concord When that was torn down a few people felt a real loss Cities go through those enhancement periods and they re looking for something new and exciting and whatever But preserving something you have to really think it through and decide one is the building something you really can preserve and two do you have the money to cover that Q What made you care about local history Personally my family was very involved in the city of Concord and the historical society my grandmother was a educator in the locality and worked with a great number of of the people who were the first to start the group As time moved on and I got ready to retire I was trying to consider how I could be connected to things that I m interested in Once I became a member of the historical society it didn t take long before I determined myself helping out with tasks That s how supporters work we re all really willing to be out there and work The more supporters we could have now the more we could increase membership which would be fabulous Q Whenever you and other longterm contributors on CHS roster decide to step back from leadership roles will the organization will be able to weather that transition That s my goal I think majority of of the nonprofits that I know are struggling to find that next generation It s hard we re not sure how to find them We were running a summer camp for children who are in third and fourth grade but after Covid we haven t been able to draw all of those kids back to us Yes the people who can volunteer are ostensibly people who are closer to retirement but it s that young family that we want to come in and get excited about what we have here We just need to keep reaching out Q How do you get the area excited to learn facts and history about Concord other than posting regularly to social media and speaking during city council meetings I rely on all our members to get out and share information When we hosted an event about the town that is no longer Port Chicago as a charity event more than a hundred people RSVP d online That s already a lot but then I got people who don t do Eventbrite they re handing me their checks and then there was a fairly large crowd of walk-ins That s a nice chunk of change and we could have an event like that multiple times throughout the year so we re trying to really tailor what interests this district and beyond My dad used to say When Gail s not talking then she s possibly sick So I m happy to talk about something that I am passionate about Our members are really strong believers majority of are ostensibly my age and older so their passion is pretty strong they ve been doing it for years I think that makes a difference and why the Concord Historical Society continues to move forward Q Throughout concerns have percolated about the ability to preserve and maintain and record history even in real time What do you make out of this particular moment in time specifically regarding the role of the CHS This is a strange bizarre moment that we re living in in America I worry that people will start to try and take specific parts of history and shove it away In the beginning historical societies which go back to the late s perhaps focused on one group of people the people who were white who had money We have a display right now that shows one of the Mount Diablo High School yearbooks from the early s after one year there s a whole group of Japanese people missing from the yearbook that s when the internment camps came So we put that out there so that people can see that difference asking them to notice the difference from this year to the next Q So what do you wish people knew about Concord That you really have not spent much time in Concord if you don t see what s great about it It s diverse I saw that everyday in the schools People have different funny attitudes about the city I ve grown up in this area and for a long time it was invariably the closer you were to the tunnel you could be prouder of where you live It s my job at least sitting on the Concord Historical Society to be able to share why Concord is an exciting place to live And when you know the history including history that s just sitting right there on our property that s exciting to me GAIL VAN TASSELL Age Title President Concord Historical Society Residence Concord Hometown Walnut Creek Career years of teaching kindergarten through eighth grade FIVE HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT CONCORD The first inhabitants of modern day Concord was a small tribelet of Chupcan Bay Miwok Indians who lived along the valley s streams and hillsides before the first Spanish explorers arrived in the s While the city was founded in as Todos Santos the name chosen by the Pacheco family who oversaw Rancho Monte del Diablo a Mexican land grant of nearly acres in Contra Costa the district over time became known as Concord When musicians travelled the country recording folk songs during the Depression that Works Progress Administration project included tapes of Contra Costa County immigrants Jack Nicholson s first film The Wild Ride was filmed in and around Concord in not long after the late Harvey Berman who directed and produced the film initially moved to the city for a job as the drama trainer at Mount Diablo High School The Hindu Shiva Murugan Temple is the first-ever Panchavarna temple in the nation a rare five-color design rooted in ancient Hindu traditions often exposed in South Indian temples to symbolize divine energies and cosmic balance