Our museum focuses on the history of Fremont, Newark and Union City and their roots in the towns of Mission San Jose, Warm Springs, Irvington, Centerville, Niles, Newark, Alvarado and Decoto. The museum collects, preserves and documents the continuing heritage. We strive to represent the social, political, economic, industrial, agricultural, technological; and cultural heritage of Washington Township, from prehistory to the present.
We need your help.
Important items in the museum came from people like you. We want to acquire more items of historical interest and significance to the Tri City area, formerly called Washington Township.
We already have some collections, including the Dr. Robert B. Fisher collection, about Southern Alameda County, so historians, researchers and descendants of people who once lived here turn to us for help. We provide information and photographs for books, articles and reports written about our people, our buildings and our towns. Sometimes we don’t have the information requested.
Why do we need your help?
We appreciate the generosity of local residents who donated almost everything we have in the museum. We now observe that as older citizens downsize or pass away, the things they have saved that might be of historic interest get tossed.
Please tell people who live here, or used to live here, about the Museum of Local History and its potential as a possible repository for their special “things.”
How can you help?
Come visit us and see the artifacts and documents that have been donated to us since our founding in 1992. Then let other people know that we are interested in enlarging our collections.
We cannot accept everything, of course, but we do want to preserve as much as we can so future generations can learn about the fascinating people and historic events of our towns.
Items we collect
Items from Fremont, Newark and Union City and the villages from which they grew.
- Photographs of local activities and family life (we can scan photo images) and home movies
Identify where the photo was taken, who took the photo, names of people in the photo, and the date. - Documents: business records, business cards, organizational advertising cards, labor union records, restaurant menus, service organization’s memorabilia
- Ephemera – something short lived such as handbills, flyers, printed programs, etc.
- Old/Rare books and magazines, newsletters and newspapers, church bulletins
- School yearbooks, club records, outdated household items that were once common
- Paperwork, items brought from family homes, churches, civic events
- Artifacts related to families moving to the area, for example, a suitcase, travel documents, etc.
- Men’s clothing, work clothing, sports clothing from the twentieth century
- Women’s clothing from 1930s, 1940s, 1970s, 1980s
- Accessories such as jewelry, purses, and shoes for men and women, any period
- Baby and children’s clothing, youth sports uniforms
- World War II home front – USO or Red Cross uniform, identification cards from a war time job
- Toys and musical instruments, except pianos.
- Military items related to Tri City area military personnel from any military conflict, except World War II era uniforms
