SMECC UPDATE -
for immediate release
Historic Sahuaro Ranch, in Glendale Arizona, offers the highlight of the
2004-2005 season with the historical exhibit, "Rural Electrification."
The Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation (SMECC),
located in Glendale Arizona, is proud to collaborate on this display by
providing information, pictures, signs and example of appliances from the
pre-electric and electrified era.
SMECC Director, Ed Sharpe's interest in REA stemmed from a personal interest
to learn about one of FDR's three letter programs whose coverage was
lacking during his high school American history class. He wanted to learn as
much as he could!
"We had a small high density display of artifacts at the museum" Sharpe
said. "We saw this exhibition as a dynamic example of two museums partnering
to produce a large display with great depth" He continues, " Kudos to Carole
De Cosmo at Historic Sahuaro Ranch Museum and her crew, the presentation of
their material and our material was blended together in an intellectual and
artistic manner."
When asked why a display on REA, Sharpe replied, " You can learn about
power distribution in cities from any of the major power producers." He
continued "This was a chance to expose city folks to their rural cousin's
quest for electrification and betterment of life, while providing visitors
from outside the city a chance to reminisce about their gaining of power
and technology."
Sharpe continues to acquire more books, artifacts and paperwork related to
REA, and also things related to all forms of engineering, communications and
computation.
This informative and entertaining exhibit tells how electricity dramatically
changed the methods of farming and "Rural Electrification" explains who was
responsible for bringing electrical power, what circumstances made it
possible and feasible, when it happened, and how electric power was
generated and transmitted in the past.
The fact that the Salt River Valley was electrified before the REA and the
rest of rural America is unknown to most Valley residents. The farmers
mortgaged their land to bring water (and its byproduct, electricity) to the
Valley. This display offers an education on Arizona history and also a look
at what was happening in other farming communities in the United States
through Rural Electric Cooperatives.
Electricity made the farm family's live a more pleasant existence with the
most profound effect on the farm wife. Before electricity the farm wife had
to pump the water by hand, heat with coal and wood, wash all the clothes on
a scrub board and tub, air dry the clothes and then iron them with irons
heated by coal or wood stoves. After an exhausting day of all this and
other work the poor lady would then read by the substandard light provided
by candlelight or kerosene lamp.
The rest of the family that was out working the operational aspects of the
farm enjoyed the labor and time saving benefits offered by electricity.
Milking the cows was faster and more efficient.
Pumping water electrically was a wonder!
Having good lighting added to productivity and safety.
Electric tools made construction and repair on the farm move at a faster
pace!
Radios and later televisions could be just plugged into the wall.. gone
were the bulky batteries and wind chargers.
But... to learn all the benefits, you need to take in this wonderful
exhibition!
Rural Electrification brought farm families together as they formed
cooperatives to obtain electric power. Some of the side activities
included REA cook books, picnics, work parties, pot lucks and more. REA
brought people together and made life better!
Below: Rural Electrification Exhibit opening night.
Carole De Cosmo, Director of Historic Sahuaro Ranch Museum
and Ed Sharpe Director and Lead Archivist of SMECC.
Pictured are some of the 3 dimensional and pictorial REA artifacts the
SMECC lent for the exhibition.
picture is missing from this. Go to www.smecc.org to pick it up.
Where to see it!
Historic Sahuaro Ranch is at 9802 N. 59th Ave., (59th and Mountain View) in
Glendale and is open to the public. Website http://www.sahuaroranch.org/
The grounds - populated with peacocks, chickens, rabbits and graced with a
rose garden - are open from dawn to dusk each day. Hours for the Galleries,
Main House Tours and Museum Store are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays
through Saturdays.
Group tours and educational tours can be arranged by calling the Sahuaro
Ranch Foundation office at (623) 930-4200. Admission to the grounds and
gallery is free and open to the public.
The Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation (SMECC)
can be reached at 623-435-1522 for further information on SMECC please
visithttp://www.smecc.org
Thanks Ed Sharpe, Archivist for SMECC - - See the Museum's Web Site at
www.smecc.org
We are always looking for items to add to the museum's display and ref.
library - please advise if you have anything we can use.
Coury House / SMECC
5802 W. Palmaire Ave. Phone 623-435-1522
Glendale Az 85301 USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marty Buxton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 2:12 PM
Subject: Re: museum curriculum
> At Lindsay Wildlife Museum we send programs out with
> docents. These programs include both specimens and
> live animals. We have a variety of topics to choose
> from and offer to customize programs.
> In addition, we have a Natural History To Go rental
> program that allows teachers to check out specimens to
> augment their curriculum. Both programs are
> advertised through handouts, mailings of education
> brochures, and at teacher education events.
>
> Marty Buxton
> Curator
> Lindsay Wildlife Museum
> 1931 First Ave.
> Walnut Creek, CA 94597
> (925) 935-1978
>
>
> --- Sarah Michelle Hatcher
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Dear Listers,
>> I am currently helping our Director of Public
>> Programs research
>> trends in museum curriculum. Our specific interest
>> is in curriculum
>> boxes/trunks that can go to the classroom. From the
>> (limited)
>> websites I have looked at it seems like the trend is
>> to either have
>> docents take the boxes to the school or for there to
>> be more of a
>> library that teachers can pick and choose from. I
>> would love
>> feedback from those of you doing these types of
>> programs. What are
>> you doing? What types of materials are you using?
>> What is your
>> marketing strategy? Thank you in advance for all of
>> the feedback.
>> Feel free to contact me offlist at
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Thanks again,
>> Sarah
>>
>>
>> Sarah Hatcher
>> Summer Public Programs Intern
>> U of O Museum of Natural and Cultural History
>> Arts Administration Graduate Student
>> University of Oregon
>> http://natural-history.uoregon.edu
>>
>>
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> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
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=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
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