Preserving Pleasanton's Photographic Memories

They're not superheroes or international spies. But octogenarians Barbara Wolfenberger and Verna Garibaldi are on a mission no one else can accomplish. The lifelong friends volunteer at Pleasanton's Museum on Main, safeguarding history by identifying people and places in the city's old photographs.

"They use us because we can remember way back," Wolfenberger said. "There aren't too many people in town who are older than us."

The two have lived in Pleasanton all their lives and say they have seen the changes and growth of the city. Garibaldi estimates that the two have labeled, recorded, and preserved nearly 4,000 photographs, which would otherwise go unidentified.

Garibaldi and Wolfenberger were born in Pleasanton, met in kindergarten, and have been friends for eighty years. They graduated from Amador Valley Joint Union High School with the 33 students in the class of 1942. After World War II Garibaldi and Wolfenberger each married a former classmate and raised families in the houses they still live in now.

Garibaldi began volunteering as a part-time archivist at the Museum in 1990, and Wolfenberger joined her in 1992. They can be found in the archives room nearly every Friday afternoon, sorting through collections of photographs donated by Pleasanton residents.

Wolfenberger and Garibaldi's memories make them ideally suited to their task, and help bring Pleasanton's past to life.

Wolfenberger remembers going to a high school football game with 25 cents in her pocket.

"I thought that was so much money!" she said. "We would go to the game and get something to eat, all for 25 cents."

Wolfenberger said she volunteers at the Museum to preserve the experiences of ordinary people.

"They are a part of what made Pleasanton," she said. "That's my biggest concern, that everybody gets acknowledged, not just the people who had the money and the businesses."

Wolfenberger is especially committed to saving the stories of Pleasanton's immigrant communities. She said there used to be a Portuguese community near the racetrack, but other groups included Italians, Spanish, Danish and French.

Digging through old photographs holds other fascinations for the amateur archivists. Their favorite picture is Tom Silver's pharmacy, with the two ladies in the carriage. It is an 1800s image showing a horse and buggy on unpaved Main Street, where Domus parking lot is currently located.

The pair have also uncovered images of their own family members. Wolfenberger identified her mother by the bow she always wore. Garibaldi found her father in a photo, and says her biggest regret is not gathering memories of his life in Pleasanton.

"I could have had so much information from him," she says. "But when you're a kid growing up you don't think of it. If only I had asked him questions and recorded it."

While Wolfenberger and Garibaldi have been witness to a shifting Pleasanton, the recent changes at the Museum, with a new executive director and increased public events, are cause for new excitement.

"We're just the same people doing the same thing, and it was just kind of stale," Wolfenberger said. "Now, we've got life."