La Historia Society Museum: Preserving the History of the Barrios
By Raquel Vasquez
Honoring those that have preceded us and our community is of utmost importance, not only to preserve but also to continue our cultural essence. There is something very special about understanding where one comes from, where one’s family tree is rooted, and having a sense of belonging. It is equally important to educate and enlighten our community so that we may understand our past and how it relates to our present. Facilitating a space, where people of similar backgrounds, involvements, and encounters may join together to share their stories is something very special. Our community has a certain sway about it, the way we live, work, learn, play, serve and pray. For example, the sound of la campana, the bell on an early Sunday morning, ringing regally from the Guadalupe church on Ramona Blvd, it’s a sound of familiarity and a sound of home. Or that feeling of fall and knowing that Oktoberfest at Nativity church is around the corner and the excitement of knowing you’re going to see all your neighbors and friends while eating an elote corn cob or having some delicious Vietnamese noodles.
Fortunately for us, several citizens from the different barrios of El Monte and South El Monte had recognized that Raza and other minority groups were underrepresented in the local city Museum. Many of the citizens understood, shared, took part in and had first-hand accounts of what it took to build our community. Most of which took place not only through blood, sweat, and tears, but through brilliance, unity, and laughter. Therefore, after several reunions, founding members Ernie Ravago, Sal Bescerra, Dr. Ben Campos, Richard Perez, Kinko Hernandez, Connie Ochoa, Virgie Fraijo were tired of not having a place to meet that was relatable to them and where they could share their stories and memories. They wanted a place where inclusiveness was at the forefront of their mission and where individuals could freely share their unique experiences with others about their own barrio. They felt like it was their responsibility to create a space of unity, where the history of our city could be handed down publicly in a creative way. They decided to create a space where the original pioneers, local clergy, builders, local heroes, schools, families, neighbors, and friends may be honored and chronicled. Through perseverance, these visionaries created the La Historia Society Museum in 1998. Members collectively brought in their personal family memorabilia, including photos, letters, albums, medals, traditions, and other objects to share with the community.
Through countless volunteer hours, with success and resourcefulness, they were able to acquire our city-leased building where they painted it and set up displays of fantastic stories. They were able to maintain a dignified museum that represented our city’s beautiful history and the wonderful people of our barrio. They created a foundation for El Monte/South El Monte to display their formative years and accomplishments in a dynamic way.
Sadly, many of the founding members like Joe Torres, Tino Beltran Olga and Ernie Gutierrez have now passed, retired or are unable to continue the level of support as before. Their valuable time, efforts, and stories are greatly missed and have left a gap in our ability to uphold our wonderful museum. To keep citizens enlightened is half the battle. Just like most non-profits, in order to continue our legacy, and fill our museum with new stories, we have to spend much of our time trying to fund the museum. We attempt to achieve this through community fundraising, for example, hosting breakfasts and dances. Through these efforts, we have been able to acquire some financial support. We have also created a calendar that we sell and we also sell t-shirts as a way to fundraise, but it brings in very little revenue and is very time-consuming to push production. Much of our energy that could be spent creating exhibits, gathering archives, and hosting community events are spent fundraising to maintain the physical building.
Our museum houses many personal, historical photographs, military items, high school yearbooks and farming tools donated by founding members and community visitors. But it is much more than a gallery or storehouse; it’s also a place of gathering. We come together and invite the community to participate in outreach. We make holiday cards for shut-ins. It’s a collection place for donations for our homeless sisters and brothers, and we host tea parties so that members of our community can share stories. We have also created a scholarship for the six local high schools, where we ask students to share a story about growing up in El Monte/South El Monte. Winners may be included in our Cuentos book that is self-published, so that their legacies may be highlighted.
Like our pioneers, we feel that it is our responsibility to continue to not only share what has been archived but to carry on this wonderful legacy of sharing stories that have not yet come to light.
The COVID19 pandemic has impacted many lives around the world and this will greatly impact how many people go about their lives. As we now have our doors closed to the public we will have to rethink how to bring people back in to support us. It will be a long while until the community is able to place the museum on the list of where their money will go. Grant options and big lending institutions are needed more than ever for small, community organizations like ours.
If you would like to learn more about La Historia Society Museum you can contact us by the following: lahistoriasociety@gmail.com, Facebook @La Historia Society Museum, Instagram @lahistoriasocietymuseum
