Community
San Ramon Valley Veterans Memorial Building Opens Autumn Archival Exhibition on Hartz Avenue in Danville
Local historians and veterans organizations unveil digitized twentieth-century service letters, flight logs, and student oral-history documentaries ahead of November observances.
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Curators with the Veterans Memorial Building of San Ramon Valley and the Town of Danville opened a special three-week autumn archival exhibition on Friday afternoon at 400 Hartz Avenue in downtown Danville, showcasing newly digitized correspondence, aviation logbooks, and hometown photographs spanning a century of local military and civic service. Prepared by volunteer archivists in collaboration with high school history students from San Ramon Valley High and Monte Vista High, the gallery installation leads up to the town's annual November 11 community remembrance ceremonies. More than 180 artifacts donated by Danville, Alamo, Diablo, and San Ramon families have been preserved in acid-free display cases equipped with anti-reflective museum glass.
Among the centerpiece displays is a collection of Western Union telegrams, Red Cross volunteer nursing journals, and Ration Board ledgers compiled inside the original Danville Grammar School and Grange Hall during the 1940s, alongside flight jackets and carrier deck charts from Contra Costa aviators who served in the Pacific and European theaters. Interactive listening stations allow visitors to hear thirty-five high-definition oral-history interviews recorded with local veterans over the past year.
In conjunction with the gallery opening, the Veterans Memorial Building library has launched a free Saturday afternoon "Preserve Your Family History" scanning clinic where residents can bring fragile family photographs, V-mail letters, or service certificates to be digitized at 1,200-dpi archival resolution onto complimentary USB drives. Curatorial staff also provide acid-free storage sleeves and conservation care guides to participating families.
Admission to the exhibition hall and weekend digitization clinics at 400 Hartz Avenue is free to the public through Sunday, November 15, supported by a Contra Costa County Veterans Service Office community education grant and town cultural arts funds. Residents can check daily gallery docent hours, reserve school tour slots, or book Saturday scanning appointments on the Veterans Memorial Building of San Ramon Valley Portal.
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