California History Center

Program Overview

California and regional studies are the focus of this multi-faceted program housed in the 1895 Petit Trianon on the De Anza College campus. 

The California History Center and Foundation present exhibits, offer classes with De Anza College, publish books and a periodical, and operate a library and archives. Special events including lectures, panel discussions and workshops are also featured.

With its programs and resources, the center  – which has received numerous awards and honors – is an active focal point for California history studies and has been recognized as an "outstanding educational facility" by the State of California.

Emphasizing living history, the center provides students with a unique opportunity to "encounter the historic site, document, or experienced individual, and personally interpret and recreate a period in history."

Housed in the reconstructed le Petit Trianon, a national registered landmark located on the De Anza campus, the center offers credit classes, changing exhibits and a video documentation program. The magazine Californian appears 3 times a year. Students can participate in all of these activities

Additionally, the center's Stocklmeir Library hosts a growing collection of materials on California history and on almost every aspect of Santa Clara Valley's development, including student research papers, books, journals, video and audio oral histories, photographs, manuscripts, newsletters, clippings and pamphlets.

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Audrey Edna Butcher Civil Liberties Education Initiative

Audrey Butcher was a local World War II-era schoolteacher who taught students that civil rights must be protected and never again violated as they were with the internment of Japanese Americans. In Audrey's honor, her daughter, Margaret, donated a generous gift to the CHC to create a civil liberties education initiative. 

The gift will help ensure the ongoing operation and long-term sustainability of the CHC.

Read more about Margaret and Audrey Butcher