Museum on Main opens 2 new exhibits

The Museum on Main opened two new exhibits Wednesday — “Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in California” and “School Days: Amador High from 1924-1969” — which will run until Oct. 11.

“Women & Spirit” features photos, videos, creative artwork and historical artifacts from just after the Gold Rush to the present, exploring the impact Catholic Sisters made on the formation of church and society in California.

The traveling exhibit tells the story of the sisters’ attempt to provide social stability during California’s chaotic founding years by creating a safety net — childcare centers, hospitals, schools, orphanages, homes for the elderly and working girls, and countless other institutions of charity.

On top of this, explains the exhibit, the sisters worked to correct the source of these ills by participating in the struggle for social justice, and they continue to do so today with widespread partnerships and collaborations.

The Museum on Main is augmenting the exhibit with items from its own collection as well as objects from local religious orders. In addition, it has borrowed prints from the Corita Art Center, in Los Angeles, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting the work of artist, activist and educator Corita Kent, also known as Sister Mary Corita, who gained international fame for her vibrant serigraphs during the 1960s and 1970s.

In the exhibit “School Days,” guest curator Beverly Ales shows visitors the faces of a changing Pleasanton through the students that walked the halls of Amador Valley High School, from its completion in 1924 to its demolition to make room for a larger, more modern building in 1969.

Meet the teens who lived here through the Roaring ’20s, the Great Depression, the Second World War and the postwar boom that helped turn a small farm town into a prosperous Bay Area suburb.

Museum on Main, 603 Main St., is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, go to www.museumonmain.org or call 462-2776.