Collaborative projects

The Summer Archaeology Project (SAP) is held in collaboration between California State Parks and Santa Clara University. We meet every Monday, between 10 am and 2 pm, for 10 weeks throughout the summer. SAP volunteers sort through material excavated from the site of the Native American Rancheria at the Santa Clara Mission. Studying this material helps answer critical questions about daily life for Native people in the Mission system.

San José has only two extant adobes, one of which is the Roberto-Suñol Adobe, located at 770 Lincoln Avenue in Willow Glen, San José, California. On May 31, 2013, the owners – siblings John Bruzzone Jr., Jeanette Bruzzone, and Joyce Lo Franco — donated the adobe, as well as the two-story historic landmark Suñol House and grounds to the California Pioneers of Santa Clara County. The California Pioneers of Santa Clara County created a museum for the benefit of the public. The adobe is included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Bay Area Cultural Landscapes Research Group (BACLRG). This is a collaborative effort between Foothill College, Stanford University, Santa Clara University and San Jose State University.  This project studies the impacts to the various landscapes around the San Francisco Bay Area at various points through time by the various cultural groups who inhabited them.

The de Saisset Museum offers free guided tours of the permanent California History exhibition, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and the nearby Mission Gardens. Thanks to the De Saisset docent training program, we have a team of trained docents that use a variety of interactive methods to bring the history of Santa Clara Valley alive. Designed to complement California's state-mandated curriculum, the tour is geared primarily toward 4th grade school groups who are studying California mission history; however the tour can be adapted to any age group, upon request.