Downtown Storefront History Exhibits

Created in partnership with the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz visit pop-up displays highlighting Santa Cruz County's first pandemic experience – the 1918 influenza.

The displays showcase objects from the MAH's archive, including Mary Ann True's December 6th, 1918 diary entry detailing how “everything shut up tight" as flu cases increased around town. Blown up in size, the diary entry acts as a mask covering a large caricature made out of empty respirator boxes.

Presented as part of our upcoming exhibition, In These Uncertain Times, the two neighboring displays are on view now at 119 & 121 Walnut Ave in Downtown Santa Cruz