Los Gatos is a town very proud of its unique and noteworthy history. It's for that very reason that, with every step forward, town leaders are careful to take a look back to be sure that the town's heritage is preserved.
But no one is doing more to preserve the town's history than Los Gatos Library Director Peggy Conaway.
In many communities, bygone eras are often just that, and forgotten in the interest of progress. But much of what makes Los Gatos the special place it is today is the celebration and preservation of its glorious past.
Much of that has been accomplished through the years thanks to the efforts of the late John Baggerly and town historian Bill Wulf, whose collections of historical photographs, artifacts and memorabilia give the town's history life. Their contributions to the historical preservation of the community cannot be overlooked.
However, Peggy Conaway and her staff at the Los Gatos Library have taken historical preservation to the next level, bringing the collection of such data into the 21st century. Conaway, Paul Kopach and others on the library staff are putting in countless hours collecting, scanning and cataloging old photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, letters and other items that chronicle the history of the town.
The trouble is, proper funding is just not available for this high tech method of historic safeguarding. A funding drive is now under way in hopes of raising enough revenue to hire a full-time employee and to purchase the equipment necessary to scan and index the historic material—making it available to all Los Gatans, past and present, no matter where they may now reside, via the Internet.
To that end, local authors Barbara and Ira Spector were the driving forces in the organization of an event to support the library's effort. The Spectors—together with the Friends of the Los Gatos Library, The Los Gatos Library, the Los Gatos Weekly-Times and Borders of Los Gatos—will hold a three-day benefit weekend event in an attempt to raise needed funds in the effort of historical preservation.
Borders of Los Gatos will donate 15 percent from all purchases over the Aug. 1315 weekend to the Los Gatos Library History Project. The only stipulation is that all purchases must be accompanied by a special voucher, available in an upcoming edition of this newspaper and in other locations throughout the town. Borders tracks such benefit sales through the use of such vouchers, but vouchers cannot be passed out in the store.
The event, called "Hooked on Los Gatos," will feature live music, book signings, presentations by local authors and an "audio-visual history lesson on Los Gatos" presented by Conaway.
Participating in "Hooked on Los Gatos" is a painless way to support the library in its historical effort. After all, preserving the town's heritage should be a community effort.
