Anne and Andy Anderson, the new owners of the Creative Spirits Artists Gallery.

The Museum has sold books, t-shirts and postcards at the Gallery for years but, thanks to the generosity of the Andersons and their interpretation of our 501C3 status, we will no longer be required to pay rent on our booth space. For a non-profit, that savings is enormous. It will drop directly to our bottom line enabling an ongoing investment in our community plans and programs.

The Andersons’ energy and marketing acumen have already brought a new look to the Gallery and we’re sure they have more in mind for the future. If you haven’t stopped by to see what they’re up to, please do and tell them their friends at the Patagonia Museum sent you.

Call it what you will, the idea that items that have outlived their short term usefulness can be of value is a concept that matters to an organization like the Museum. Happily, our neighbors at the Empire Ranch Foundation feel exactly the same way which is why we are now the proud owners of 14 1940’s era school desks.

In terms of the back story on the transaction, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is partnered with the Empire Ranch Foundation (ERF)  for the purpose of preserving the Empire Ranch, one of our area’s treasures. School desks that were not needed at another BLM restoration project at the Fairbank schoolhouse have been in storage in an outbuilding at the Ranch since 2007.  Fortunately, Alison Bunting who is the historian for the ERF, as well as a member of the Museum, was aware of our plan for the Lochiel schoolhouse to become a community meeting place in the near future. She contacted our curators, Linda & Tom Shore, and the rest, as they say, is history.

We owe a big round of thanks to the BLM for their generosity, Alison for her thoughtfulness and the ERF volunteers for their helpful hands. The desks are off to a good new home and the ERF has regained some storage space…..which sounds like a win/win to us.

Thanks to the generosity of the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, the Museum’s home (formerly the Patagonia Elementary School) is looking pretty spiffy, if we do say so ourselves.

The Museum was awarded a grant by the South32 Hermosa Project Community Fund and used it to contract with Doctor Construction out of Tucson who was definitely up for the challenge.

A much need paint job and repair to the wear and tear of the last century leads us to believe the grand old lady is good for the next 105 years.

If you haven’t stopped by to see us in a while, please do. We think you will be pleasantly surprised by the updates, particularly to the exhibits inside.  The Museum is open Thursday – Saturday 2 to 4. Other times are available by appointment.

Thanks to Eric Peterman of SSVEC for featuring our very own German Quiroga in the September/October issue of their Currents magazine.

The Weekly Bulletin – Arielle Ziontes – January 27, 2017

Say the name Patagonia to most Americans and they might think of the sportswear brand or the sparsely populated, mountainous region at the southern end of South America it’s named for. But in and around Santa Cruz County, the name Patagonia represents the small town and the mountain range that overlooks it.

Built before 1905 of adobe and used as a schoolhouse through the 1970’s, the property which is owned by the Patagonia School District, became a site for vandals and litterbugs. In 2010 The Patagonia Museum leased the schoolhouse property from the Patagonia School District for the purpose of preserving this historic site as a historic and educational facility for our students and community.