This is Throwback Thursday #260. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to [email protected]. Thanks! email:[email protected].
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William (Bill) Allaway was one of the founding members of ESCONI in 1949. And actually, the first few meetings were held at his home and a group of Western Electric engineers and scientists discussed the formation of a Earth Science oriented club to educate both adults and children. The effort was a resounding success. Bill and Helen moved west to the Los Gatos, CA area in 1962, where he set up the Santa Clara Valley Gem and Mineral Society. One thing led to another and he became involved in the founding of a museum, which is now called the New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU). He even ended up being its first director. He donated a collection of gems and minerals to the museum.
Bill & Helen Allaway in 1952
Here is an article from the April 1971 edition of the ESCONI newsletter.
PERSONAL NEWS - ESCON'S FIRST PRESIDENT 1949
Mineralogist is Named First Los Gatos Museum Director-by Jeannette Befame---San Jose News, Jan. 26, 1971
One of the men who.pioneered the founding of the Los Gatos Museum has been named its first director.
He is William H. Allaway, who has spent a lifetime gathering knowledge in many fields of the earth sciences.
In 1965, when the museum was in the beginning stages of becoming a reality, Allaway was among those who scrounged around for displays and other materials needed for the project.
He was a natural for the position to which the Los Gatos Museum Association Board appointed him this week.
In 1952 he was named assistant editor of the Earth Science Magazine, which he also helped to acquire. Today he serves as its West Coast representative.
Before his move to Los Gatos in 1962, he helped organize the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Arts in Elmhurst, Ill., to house a friend's collection of jade and rare Chinese art. His friend had been storing the treasures in his home.
During his years in Los Gatos, Allaway has written a book, "Basic Mineralogy." He teaches mineralogy in the Campbell Rock Shop.
His life-long igneous rock collection is now en display at the Los Gatos Museum. It is organized into basaltic and granitic categories, and from fine to coarsely grained types within each of the two groups.
Allaway plans to use such "family" categories in the grouping of displays of fossils, snails and shells.
The new museum, director also is one of the directors of the Santa Clara Valley Gem and Mineral Society.
Among his other accomplishments is building the membership of the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois from a group of five children and their parents into a thriving organization of 700 members today.
The museum's About page has a short history.
New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU), formerly the Museums of Los Gatos, founded in 1965, is a public non-profit art and history museum located in the Civic Center Plaza in downtown Los Gatos. NUMU has gone through many transformations throughout our history as part of the Los Gatos community. Here's the backstory:
The Museums of Los Gatos sprang from the inspiration of resident, Dr. Ethel Dana, who felt that no town could be complete without a museum. In May 1965 the Town of Los Gatos agreed to lease the vacated firehouse at the corner of Main Street and Tait Avenue to the Los Gatos Museum Association for $1 per year. A fund drive was conducted and the town merchants contributed materials to refurbish the interior of the firehouse. After volunteers converted the building, The Los Gatos Museum opened its doors with ceremonies on May 20, 1967. The Forbes Mill Museum, the remaining two-story annex of James Alexander Forbes’ flour mill completed in 1854, housed the history collections, displayed in permanent and temporary exhibitions. The first artifact donated to the Museum was a money vest from the 1849 Gold Rush, given by George Lagormarsino, Alice McCammon, and William Allaway who also donated the mineral and gem collections. The Association was incorporated for the purpose of bringing the natural history, art, and history of Los Gatos and the region to the public. The Museum celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2015, which culminated in its opening in June as New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU) at the Los Gatos Civic Center Plaza.
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