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.

The Patagonia Museum members meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 18th at 2 PM in the Patagonia Library. Our guest speaker will be Mary Noon Kasulaitis who will speak on the history of Arivaca.

Mary Noon Kasulaitis is a cattle rancher and retired Pima County Public Library librarian. She has been researching Arivaca history since the early 1980s. Her great grandparents, Dr A.H. and Emma Noon, came to Southern Arizona in 1879 to do some prospecting and started a cattle ranch at Oro Blanco, which is still in the family. Her father, Fred Noon, was on the Board of the Arizona Historical Society and wrote articles on Oro Blanco and Arivaca history in the local papers. Mary has published in the Journal of Arizona History and the Tucson Corral of the Westerners’ Smoke Signal. She is involved in historic preservation and is President of Friends of the Arivaca Schoolhouse & Historic Townsite, Inc. She lives on her grandfather’s homestead at Arivaca.

The Museum board will be holding our annual members meeting on January 18th at 10:30 AM in the Patagonia Public Library meeting room.

Following a short business meeting, you will hear from our guest speaker, renown local author, Nancy Valentine. She will speak about passages from her historical novel—”J.R. Bartlett and the Captive Girl”.

The book is based on a true U.S./ Mexico Borderlands story of the perilous and heartwarming journey of John Russell Bartlett, head of the 1850-1853 U.S. Boundary Survey Commission, to return a rescued Mexican Apache captive girl, Inez Gonzales, to her family in Santa Cruz, Sonora Mexico.

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.

Good news! The Patagonia Museum will host our fifth fundraising and educational tour to the Rio Sonora Valley on February 18, 19 and 20. Our expert guides are Dr. Deni Seymour and Bill Steen. You can read more about their very impressive backgrounds here.  Musical entertainment will be provided by P.D. Ronstadt and The Company.

Our chartered motor coach will depart from Patagonia on Tuesday, February 18, at 8 am and will return to Patagonia on Thursday, February 20, in the late afternoon.

The price per person which includes transportation, lodging, meals and meal gratuities is $600 (double occupancy) per museum members and $650 for non-members. (As an FYI, membership into the Patagonia Museum is open to anyone who supports our work. The fee starts as low as $5 for students, $35 for individuals and $50 for households so if you are planning to go to Banamichi, it’s worth becoming a member….for that reason and a lot more.)

There is limited seating for this tour so please let us know if you plan to go  as soon as convenient. Proceeds from this fundraising event support our programs and projects.  For more info, see the Banamichi Bus Tour Flyer March 2020.

If you would like to join us, please print off the registration form and return it along with a check to PO Box 919, Patagonia, AZ 85624.

Banamichi Bus Tour Registration Form March 2020

Questions should be directed to German Quiroga at 520.343.5641 or via email: german@thepatagoniamuseum.org.

The official word: the Patagonia Museum enjoyed another educational and entertaining bus tour to Mexico. On November 9, 10 and 11, museum guests traveled to Casa Grandes, Chihuahua and Mata Ortiz.

Highlights of the tour included a picnic lunch at Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, New Mexico, a guided tour of Paquime and El Museo de las Culturas de el Norte, a pottery making demonstration in Mata Ortiz and a visit to the plaza at Viejo Casas Grandes .

Don’t take it from us…here’s what one of the participants had to say:

“Just wanted to thank you again for a great tour with wonderful people! You did a super job of getting everything organized and making adjustments when needed! Having Bobby Ronstadt along was an added bonus. Becky was also an excellent guide…..we learned so much!