Our speaker for the February 16, 2021, meeting will be Kerry Perkins, the Campbell Museums supervisor since 2014. Kerry was hired in 2003 as the Campbell Historical Museum and Ainsley House and, over the years, has expanded their education programs to include on-site field trips, traveling history trunks, family-friendly special events, an evening lecture series, and a Sunday jazz concert series.
Like many organizations across the world during the current COVID pandemic, the Campbell Museums have had to physically close and adapt their programming. Kerry has created online programs for remote education, virtual lectures, tours, and more. She enjoys making history relevant in our lives today, which includes trying to collect and record history as it is happening in real time. The last year has provided more material than she and the Collection Specialist can collect and process.
Kerry’s presentation on February 16th is entitled, “Lessons Learned from a Pandemic: What Can the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 Teach Us?” She will explore how Santa Clara Valley citizens lived with and through that pandemic and how, in our present-day COVID-19 pandemic, we face some of the same fears, anxieties, frustrations, and safety measures—but can work together to get through it.
Kerry has a BA in English Literature and a MA in US History. Though not a Campbell resident, she feels a deep affinity for the community of Campbell and takes pride in representing its heritage at the Museums. She currently lives in Los Gatos with her husband and two daughters.