Joe Michalak, City of Santa Cruz, Historic Preservation Commissioner, will explore the sources and methods for researching the 1870s house located across from Santa Cruz High School. Discover how a stuffed walrus, cat o' nine tails, the Apollo 11 Moon mission, a real estate swindle, milk pasteurization, and the Klondike Gold Rush, all played a role in the lives of its occupants.

Joe Michalak earned an undergraduate degree in history at the University of Illinois (ChampaignUrbana) and a graduate degree in library and information science from Dominican University (River Forest, Il). He was director of the editorial research library at Encyclopaedia Britannica in Chicago for several years before moving to Santa Cruz to become head of reference services at UCSC’s McHenry Library in 1974.

After leaving academia, he worked for several medical/scientific publishers and technology companies in the sales and marketing of research databases and software tools to academic, medical, and research institutions.

More recently, he provided research assistance to his wife, Judith Steen (a founding member of the GSSCC), editor of the 3rd ed., of John Chase’s Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture. He was founding vice president of the Friends of the Cowell Lime Works Historic District at UCSC. Since retiring, he has researched and written with Judy, the history of numerous homes and their owners throughout Santa Cruz. He currently serves on the City of Santa Cruz, Historic Preservation Commission. Their home, built in 1853, is a designated city landmark.