Hi! My name is Alexandra Schindler, and I am currently the Collections Registrar & LGHP Program Coordinator at NUMU. I have been working in museums for 10 years, including locally at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, The Tech Interactive, and History San José, in addition to one summer at the National Museum of the United State Navy in Washington, D.C. I have held a variety of roles in many different departments, from curatorial to education to education management to collections management. I received my Master’s in Museum Studies from San Francisco State, cementing my commitment to working in the museum field.
I first got into the museum field when I was in undergrad. I was a history major at Cal Poly, SLO, and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my degree; many of my peers were planning on becoming teachers, and I already knew that I did not want to go into formal education. Cal Poly’s motto is “Learn by Doing,” and so I started thinking - how can I be hands-on with, and “do,” history? That thought process led me to museums, as the repositories of our history. The objects that museums have in their collections are the physical representations of our history, and proof that events happened. I wanted to be a part of caring for history and sharing it with the world.
I love museums because I love learning, and I think that museums are spaces where learning can happen in unique and unexpected ways. The flexibility of museum spaces allows for a greater diversity of content, programs, and experiences that can really affect people’s lives - so many people I know, whether they work in the museum field or not, got the “spark” for their career during a museum visit. I am especially passionate about bringing history to life in museums. I believe that there is a serious lack of historical knowledge and understanding in our society, and museums have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help remedy that by sharing their collections in ways that are relevant to their community and bridge the gap between the past and the present.
I am excited to be at NUMU because I have the opportunity to learn about Los Gatos, a town that I have visited my whole life, but didn’t know anything about its history, and how it’s story is distinct within the larger South Bay. Opening each box in the collection is a thrill, because I never know exactly what is going to be inside, and what I can learn from each object. I feel like every day I am handed a piece of the puzzle that makes up Los Gatos, and I cannot wait to share that puzzle with the public. Stay tuned for more updates from the collection cataloging process and history-based programs!
