Museum’s Co-Founder Helps Bring New Life to Things of the Past

Betty Mott was brought up to cherish things from the past.

Mott is a founder of the Santa Monica Heritage Museum, and every other Sunday she takes people on tours of the museum, one of Santa Monica’s original houses.

“We wanted it to be a living museum, so that’s why each room in the house represents a different era right down to the last detail. We change the pottery and glasses in the dining room, and the top floor has a new exhibit several times a year,” she said.

Ask Mott about an unusual teapot or how the brickwork around the fireplace came to be rounded at the corners or who sat in a certain rocking chair, and you’re in for an energetic, painless history lesson.

She attributes her interest, in part, to her Southern heritage, although she moved with her family to Southern California as a child.

“Being from the South, I was fortunate to learn history through these beautiful objects, which were handed down from one generation to another,” she said.

“I wanted to be an artist,” she recalled. “But my dad died when I was 11, and . . . there was no money for college.”

So, she went to work. By the time she was 24, she was managing a shop.

Going to work delayed her college education, but when she got around to it it was with a clear purpose.

“I married at the age of 30 and wanted a child but realized that I didn’t know anything about children” she said.

Mott took courses in child development through UCLA Extension, and that was the beginning of a career in early childhood development and education. Her daughter, Bonnie, now an artist, was born on the last day of that first class. She studied on and off for 30 years, and became an authority on preschool education and an advocate for it. But it was an idea a little ahead of its time.

“During the ‘50s, men were shocked when women began putting their children in nursery school,” she said. “I believe children should be allowed to be children. . . . But by going to nursery school, they learn how to get along with others.”

In 1971, Mott became the first national chairwoman for the Week of the Young Child, an observance sponsored by the National Assn. for the Education of Young Children. In part as a result of such educational and outreach efforts, nursery schools have in recent years become part of the educational mainstream.

Now essentially retired from that career, Mott, 73, leads tours and helps raise money for the Heritage Museum, which she helped found in 1976 and which opened five years later. She also is on the board of trustees of Family Service of Santa Monica, and she maintains a full schedule of painting and sculpting.

She gives credit to her husband of 43 years, George, for all the support he has lent along the way.

“He hates to travel; I love it. So I’ve been to China, Japan, Australia with friends or family members. I never think of age, but I want to see Africa before I get much older,” she said.

The best part of getting older, she says, is “being able to choose what I want to do.”

Right now, she’s worried about maintaining a museum during difficult economic times. She sends letters to friends asking them to become members, and she is always looking for volunteers. A lifetime of approaching problems with a positive attitude, she says, has shown her that things have a way of working out.

The Santa Monica Heritage Museum is at 2612 Main St., Santa Monica. It is available for conferences, parties and special events. The current exhibit on the top floor is antique toy cars. For information, call Tobi Smith at (310) 392-8537. The museum is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Memberships are $35. Seniors $20.

Bulletin Board

Here is a selective list of centers and agencies offering programs and services for seniors. Olive Stone Center, 1440 Harvard St., Santa Monica (310) 829-2228.

Culver City Senior Center, 4153 Overland Ave., Culver City (310) 202-5856.

Felicia Mahood Senior Center, 11338 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles (310) 479-4119.

Westminster Senior Center, 1234 Pacific Ave., Venice (310) 392-5566.

Senior Health and Peer Counseling Center, 2125 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica (310) 828-1243.

West Hollywood Senior Center, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood (213) 851-8202.

Westside Independent Services for the Elderly (WISE Senior Services), 1527 4th St., Santa Monica (310) 394-9871.

City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, 200 N. Main St. 13th floor, Los Angeles (213) 485-4851.

Santa Monica Senior Recreation Center, 1450 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica (310) 394-1227.