Please join The Patagonia Museum and help preserve and collect the history and culture of eastern Santa Cruz County. For as little as $35 a year ( $5 if you are a student) you can make a difference. Download our membership application here. If you would like to send a check in support of our efforts to promote an appreciation and awareness of our local history and culture.

You may also join or renew through our “Donate Now” button on this page. Please allow PayPal to send us your name, email and mailing address to confirm your membership. If you would add a note on the donation indicating it is for your annual membership, we would appreciate it.

The quarterly meeting of the Museum members was held on August 31st at 7 pm in the Library. In lieu of a speaker, German Quiroga presented a gallery of the photos the community has donated for use in upcoming displays.

The Patagonia Museum met for a brief business meeting on Friday, April 21. at 3pm in the Patagonia Public Library. Our guest speaker was Bernard G. Siquieros, an enrolled member of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Curator of Education at Himdag Ki: Hiking, Hemu, Im B I-Ha’ap, the Tohono O’odham Nation’s Cultural Center and Museum.

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.

Following Father Kino’s Footsteps in the Sonoita Valley – Anthropologist Dr. Deni Seymour discussed the early Patagonia people (Sobaipuri-O’odham) circa 1690 – 1770 .

The Patagonia Museum Annual Meeting was held in the Patagonia Public Library on January 21, 2017. Officers selected for 2017 were: German Quiroga, President; Bob Ollerton, Vice-President; Maureen DeLaOssa, Secretary; Mary Jane Pottebaum, Treasurer; Bob Bergier and Ralph Schmitt, Members-at-Large.

Doug Kupel, our guest speaker , noted that the schoolhouses under our care as well as the historic built environment in Patagonia could be eligible for National Register of Historic Site recognition.

The Santa Cruz Patagonian Newspaper was first published in Patagonia on December 1912. The Patagonia Museum, the Patagonia Library and the Friends of the Patagonia Library have partnered to reformat copies of this local newspaper on electronic media. The total collection purchased from the Arizona Library State Archives includes 693 editions of this newspaper from 1915 to 1929.

Special thanks to Abbie Zeltzer, Bill Eifrig, Bob Ollerton and Murphy Musick who made this possible.

View all these editions here.

In 2009, a grant was secured with the assistance of the Patagonia Public  Library from the Arizona State Library Office of Records and Archives to collect oral histories in eastern Santa Cruz County. Ralph Schmitt and German Quiroga proceeded to collect oral histories from long time area dwellers over the next three years.

The Patagonia Museum is grateful for the support from the Patagonia Public Library, Arizona State Library (Public Records and Archives Division) and the Patagonia Regional Community Foundation, in affiliation with the Arizona Community Foundation, for providing resources to complete this project. Thanks go to Abbie Zeltzer, Patagonia public librarian, Laura Palma-Blandford and Carlos Lopez of the Arizona State Library Office of Public Records and Archives for providing support and technical assistance and Kate Ervin of Typewell who provided the transcription service.

Very special thanks go to the twelve interviewees who provided us with their recollections of the early days in eastern Santa Cruz County. Click here to download the interviews. Enjoy.

The O’odham people inhabited a large area of desert, foothills and river valleys south from the Gila River (in Arizona), east to the Rio Sonora , west to the Colorado River and south into Sonora, Mexico.

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.