President’ s Message
News & Notes
This newsletter is published four times a year by the MOUNTAIN VIEW HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION P. O. Box 252, Mountain View, CA 94042 www. mountainviewhistorical. org
MVHA Board of Directors
President: Pamela Baird Vice-President: Robert Cox Secretary: Jamil Shaikh Treasurer: Anthea Chung Past President: Nicholas Perry
Historical Data: David Salinero Membership: Position Open Newsletter: John Cortez Director-at-Large: Carol Donahue
Director-at-Large: IdaRose Sylvester Director-at-Large: Melanie Kaye
Newsletter Design & Layout by Nicholas Perry, Melanie Kaye and Pamela Baird
MVHA Board of Directors Email: info @ mountainviewhistorical. org
Upcoming Walking tour of Downtown Mountain View April 26th, 2 pm http:// mvhistory. eventbrite. com /
President’ s Message
By Pamela Baird MVHA President
Pamela Baird
This year we are commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Also known by the tongue twisters- Semiquincentennial, Bisesquicentennial, the Sestercentennial, or the Quarter Millennium. As we know, the most memorable sentence contains the phrase“ that all men are created equal”.
Over the past few months, I’ ve been thinking about this famous document and what it means to me as an individual, to history and to our nation. As a member of the Los Altos History Museum exhibit committee, we have been discussing the upcoming 250th exhibit and what should or should not be included. Exhibit curator Amy Ellison, PhD, has been exploring and expanding the scope of the exhibit- pushing us to think about its impact, the groups of people not mentioned and how the document has been interpreted over the past 250 years. The new exhibit will be on display June 18 –-November 8.
Recently I was interviewed by Rachel Burnstein, a local historian and educational researcher. She is working on a Declaration of Independence project- talking to local people about their thoughts. In our discussion she asked about my earliest knowledge( which was elementary school) of the Declaration. As a young student, I studied the lists of Grievances contained in the Declaration and I remember thinking-“ wow- that’ s a long list. No wonder the people were upset with the British government.” But it takes more study to understand the full scope of the Declaration.
In my opinion, the most dramatic reference to the Declaration is that by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln ties the document to the founding and ideals of our nation“ Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. Today those remain powerful words. Let us hope that we as a people, can continue to pursue that mutual pledge to each other as contained in Declaration.
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