Cupertino Historical Society & Museum

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Alecia Thomas

Alecia Thomas loved vintage clothing and unique pieces.
Alecia Thomas cradles a rare miniature photo album from 1865 (photo taken 2022). The album is inscribed “A Christmas Gift to Willie, From Mother 1865.” It contains a whopping 88 portraits! The album is part of the Cupertino Historical Society and Museum permanent collection.
CHSM Treasurer Bruce Parsons, Cupertino Councilmember Hung Wei, Alecia Thomas, CHSM President Darryl Stow, and volunteer Edwin El-Kareh recruiting volunteers at the Civic Plaza in 2022.
Alecia Thomas stands in front of the Painless Parker exhibit (2023). On display are mannequins of Parker and a patient and a bucket of "teeth" pulled by "Parker".
Alecia Thomas and Gail Fretwell-Hugger stand in front of the Painless Parker exhibit (2023).
Alecia Thomas and Anya Nazarova stand in front of the Painless Parker exhibit (2023).
Gail Fretwell-Hugger, Jana Kilpatrick, Manuel Valerio, and Alecia Thomas stand in front of the Gadgets Galore exhibit (2025).
Manuel Valerio, Jana Kilpatrick, Gail Fretwell-Hugger, Alysa Sakkas, Jack Carter, and Alecia Thomas stand in front of the World of the Honeybee exhibit (2025).

Alecia served as the Collections Manager for the CHSM, where she poured her passion into preserving and sharing the rich history of Cupertino and the surrounding area. Her meticulous research brought historical subjects and notable local figures to life through thoughtfully curated exhibits. She excelled at collecting, reproducing, and displaying photographs, documents, maps, and other materials — enlarging, arranging, and weaving them into compelling, comprehensive storylines that educated and inspired visitors.

Before joining our team, Alecia honed her skills at the Los Altos Museum for five years (2018-2023), where she catalogued and cared for their extensive collection with the same care and precision she later brought to Cupertino. She helped curate Making Connections: Stories from the Land, a permanent exhibit at Los Altos History Museum.

Alecia's first major project at the Cupertino Museum was to conduct a comprehensive inventory of our object collection. Starting in 2022, she went through the closets, storage boxes, and shelves in the museum. She validated artifact records in Past Perfect (collection management/database software) and created printable lists of items stored in various locations. She was assisted by Humanities Mellon Scholars interns, including intern and future staff member Anya Nazarova. The inventory project later expanded to include photo and paper archives. Many of the archives were digitized (scanned) by volunteer Edwin El-Kareh. Managing the physical (photo prints and paper documents), database (Past Perfect records), and digitized (scan files) instances of archival items was a team effort undertaken by Alecia, intern and later staff member Jana Kilpatrick, Mellon Scholar Interns, and Anya Nazarova.

She was adept at using Past Perfect (both the desktop and web editions) — a valuable skill she practiced both at Los Altos History Museum and the Cupertino Historical Museum. Her expertise enabled her to produce thorough records of accessionned collection items with lots of metadata. She was an avid proponent of CHSM's ongoing migration from Past Perfect Desktop to Past Perfect Web Edition.

Alecia had an intrinsic understanding of local history and a passion for items and stories of the past. She fulfilled numerous research requests, drawing from her own knowledge and doing extensive research. If asked a question or prompted with an observation, she could speak enthusiastically and at length about nearly any event, person, or fact related to local history. She handled items with curiosity and respect, taking time to get to know its provenance and discovering any related information. Alecia enjoyed connecting with people at the Museum, including curious visitors and item donors.

Alongside Exhibit Committee Chair Gail Fretwell-Hugger, Alecia identified fascinating stories to be told in museum exhibits and articles. With her proficiency in research and background in art/graphic design, she invested much time and effort into producing creative displays. She designed posters, selected items with Gail Fretwell-Hugger, wrote narratives and caption cards, and selected images to be printed for the gallery wall, often retouching the more faded ones to bring them back to life. Listed below are the major projects, articles, and exhibits Alecia worked on during her time at the Cupertino Museum.

Alecia's boundless enthusiasm for history was matched only by her warmth, helpfulness, and joyful spirit. She was a true delight to work with—always collaborative, always generous with her knowledge, and deeply committed to the mission of the Cupertino Historical Society and Museum. Her dedication touched everyone she encountered, from staff and docents to members and visitors alike.

Alecia passed away on February 22, 2026. Though she is profoundly missed, Alecia's legacy lives on in the exhibits she shaped, the stories she preserved, and the love of history she ignited in so many.