by Palo Alto Museum | Apr 19, 2025 | Moments
Juana Briones was a healer, an early landowner, and an entrepreneur. She also secured a divorce from her abusive husband, which was unheard of at the time. As a woman of mixed heritage who accomplished so much, she was a trailblazer. Native, Spanish, Mexican, and…
by Palo Alto Museum | Apr 18, 2025 | Moments
Victor Mikhail Arnautoff (1896-1979) was a Russian-born painter and Stanford art professor for over 20 years. The son of a Russian Orthodox priest, he showed talent from an early age and intended to make art his career – but history had other ideas. When World War I…
by Palo Alto Museum | Apr 17, 2025 | Moments
Few names in modern history evoke the kind of admiration and transformation that Steve Jobs does. As the co-founder of Apple Inc., Jobs didn’t just build a company; he reshaped entire industries. From the Mac to the iPhone, his relentless pursuit of elegant design and…
by Palo Alto Museum | Jul 30, 2020 | Moments
DON JESUS RAMOS Don Jesus Ramos, a native of Mexico who came to California in search of gold, arrived in Mayfield in 1851 – a year after California became a state – and worked as foreman for Don Secundino Robles. At age 48, he married 16-year-old Julia…
by Palo Alto Museum | Jul 31, 2020 | Moments
Leland Stanford was born into a well-off farming family in New York state. After passing his bar exam in 1848, he moved to Wisconsin to practice law. In 1850, he married Jane Lathrop of Albany, New York. After three years in Wisconsin, Leland moved to California,…
by Palo Alto Museum | Jul 8, 2020 | Moments
Photo courtesy of Kimberley Wong. Story courtesy of William Warrior. Wong Foon Yen was born in 1908 in China’s Guangdong Province. Her father had moved to California in 1882, briefly returning to China to marry her mother. After fourteen months of married life, he…
