June 6, 2016 – General Meeting
Elizabeth Yuba Murphy Taaffe
Dec 1, 1844 – May 18, 1875
This meeting topic was: The History of the Taaffe Family. Linda Taaffe and her niece, Erika Blair, shared their family’s story over seven generations beginning with how the Taaffe family members met up with Martin and Mary Murphy, how the families made and lost fortunes, survived fires and recessions, experienced the destruction of the 1906 earthquake, and evolved the family business to make way for an influx of settlers.
February 8, 2016 – General Meeting
California Prairie Architecture book cover
Krista Van Laan gave a presentation based on her book Frank Delos Wolfe: California Prairie Architecture. The book showcases more than 40 of Wolfe’s Prairie-style buildings and tells the stories of their fascinating owners. Wolfe’s clients were the pioneers that helped build and influence Santa Clara County and Frank Wolfe was the architect who was able to give them something special. Van Laan will touch on the various styles Wolfe popularized during his 35-year career, giving special attention to the many Wolfe buildings in Sunnyvale, where his architecture played a particularly important role in the early days of Sunnyvale’s development.
If you missed it, you can watch the entire meeting in 4 parts on this playlist on our museum You Tube channel. Click on the play button in the next photo to start watching.
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