Kristen Johnston
Kristen Johnston
Kristen began volunteering at LHS a year ago as part of an internship process for her library certificate and to gain some experience in archival work. Her original assignment was to correctly label photo files that were kept in file cabinets in the history room. After she became familiar with the photos she started a project to create a more condensed and easy to use filing system on the computer. She is using Past Perfect, our museum software program, to bring the search criterion on the photos store there up to date.
Kristen is a local, having been born in Walnut Creek and spent most of her life living in Concord. She is studying at DVC to earn her Library Sciences Certificate and to improve her computer skills. She previously studied psychology at San Francisco State. She then spent twenty years in business management but later realized that she wanted to do something she enjoyed so she returned to school. Her current goal is to work for a special library or archive.
Kristen enjoys history as she believes it is an important part of who we are today. She loves knowing how places came to be and why they developed the way they did. It may be because she loves a good story – history is full of tales of adventure, struggle, success, love….and that every city should keep track of who founded it, the family lines and important events. She wishes more cities had programs like Lafayette, where local history is part of the educational plan. Knowing the history of the area you live in gives people a sense of civic pride, which is sorely missing now-a-days.
LHS is very fortunate to have Kristen as a volunteer as she brings skills to her volunteering that have enabled us to better organize and categorize many of our historical materials. We are happy to assist her in her internship as it has greatly benefited our organization!!
John Otto
John Otto
If you’ve ever noticed a local organization with a really neat logo, chances are that it was designed by John Otto. Retired after a 40+ year San Francisco advertising career, John now gifts our community with his artistic talents. The list of groups with logos and other artwork by John includes the Lafayette Historical Society, the Lafayette Improvement Association, the Lamorinda Transportation Program, the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation, and Boy Scout Troop 204. If it’s an eye-catching logo, chances are John had something to do with it.
John grew up in Portland, Oregon and attended the University of Oregon, majoring in art. After a three year Army stint he studied advertising design on the GI Bill in Louisiana. He met and married his wife Sue in 1958 and moved to Lafayette in 1971. When his three sons were young he was active in Cub Scouts, Indian Guides and Boy Scouts (he served as Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 204).
John became a Board Member of LHS in 2011, and since that time his interest in learning about his adopted town of 41 years has grown. His CARDOODLE email messages keep his brain exercised. He has an interest in art history, the development of the computer and how it completely changed the communications field and the history of typography (like where do our letters come from and who drew them and when).
LHS is one of many organizations very thankful for John’s time and talent!!
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