History As Education – and Storytelling
Focusing on California and regional studies, the California History Center and CHC Foundation present exhibits, offer classes with De Anza College, publish a periodical, and operate a library and archives. Special events, including lectures, panel discussions and workshops are also featured. Student interns are currently helping to digitize and expand our collection of over 400 historic oral history recordings.
Voices of Silicon Valley: NEH Grant Project
De Anza has received its first-ever grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, providing $150,000 for an ambitious, three-year effort to create and expand oral history programs focused on historically marginalized communities.Read the Californian
The latest issue of Californian, published quarterly by California History Center, is available now! Articles include a look at the Mexican immigrant experience in the Santa Clara Valley during the Great Depression, remarks on Fred Korematsu Day, the center director’s report and more.
Donate – Become a Member!
Use our online form to donate and become a member of the California History Center and Foundation.
The California History Center and Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization (EIN 88-0108599).
Faculty Coordinator and Center Director:
Lori Clinchard
The Center is open during Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters, in accordance with the De Anza College schedule. During those times, the Center
is open to the community on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Lori Clinchard can be reached at clinchardlori@deanza.edu
- To reach the Center, or librarian/archivist Lisa Christiansen, please call 408.864.8987.
About the California History Center
With its programs and resources, the California History Center – which has received numerous awards and honors – is an active focal point for California history studies and has been recognized as an "outstanding educational facility" by the State of California.
Emphasizing living history, the center provides students with a unique opportunity to "encounter the historic site, document, or experienced individual, and personally interpret and recreate a period in history."
Housed in the reconstructed le Petit Trianon, a national registered landmark located on the De Anza campus, the center offers credit classes, changing exhibits and a video documentation program. The magazine Californian appears 3 times a year. Students can participate in all of these activities
Additionally, the center's Stocklmeir Library hosts a growing collection of materials on California history and on almost every aspect of Santa Clara Valley's development, including student research papers, books, journals, video and audio oral histories, photographs, manuscripts, newsletters, clippings and pamphlets.
Recent California History Center Events
The California History Center hosts and helps sponsor a variety of interesting events, workshops and panels each year. You can read about recent highlights on the History Center Highlights webpage.
See Highlights of Recent Events
Hidden Histories of Japantown
The California History Center is co-sponsor of an ambitious, augmented reality community art project in San José’s Japantown neighborhood.
The project combines technology, art, history and culture to share stories about the Chinese, Japanese and Filipino communities that helped shape this historic district.