Henderson’s Heritage Continued
Written by:
Betsy Jefferis
Amber Jones
Service:
We continued to give our time and service to Henderson’s Heritage Museum through out the spring semester of 2002. A total of 20 service hours were given to the museum, mostly Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings and afternoons. In that time we handled many different aspects of museum life and purpose. We helped with the archives, the Native American festival, and answered their hotline phones. When we helped with the archives we got to see first had the media and propaganda used in our home valley during various decades. One weekend we spent cataloging old maps, posters, and advertisements used in the area. These we dusted off and gave them a number to register them in the catalogue. Thus, in the future the next time the museum may want to open an exhibit the information will be easily accessible. Some interesting objects were the blue prints for the museum it’s self built nineteen years ago. There were older maps, some of the first maps drawn of the valley and also some old posters for past and current strip casinos. We spent a few fun afternoons answering phones located in the museum gift shop and back offices. Mostly, the main callers were parents doing research for their children doing various projects for school. Since the desert is a very important part of Nevada’s ecosystem, many parents wanted to know more about desert plants and animals. We would also give directions for tour groups and families visiting the greater Las Vegas area. It was sometimes difficult to answer peoples’ questions in the detail they wanted because their requests were sometimes too vague. For example, an avid outdoorsman called in and said he had been doing some walking up in some BLM land and stumbled upon some eggs in the ground and wanted to know exactly what type of animal they came from. We told the gentleman there was no real way of knowing because they could have come from a desert tortoise, snake or lizard of some sort. Geology is also a very hot topic that a lot of museum goers wanted to know more about. Since Henderson was founded because of the mining industry, there are a variety of geologic wonders in southern Nevada (Redrock, Cathedral Gorge, etc), and with these amusements there are also a lot of curiosities as well. There were a few instances when a local would bring in a rock and wanted to know the various aggregates in it. The museum has three rock and mineral guides and their exhibit also talks about mineralogy so we let the amateur geologist research on their own in most cases. It was really wonderful seeing young children and adults alike get excited about the environment around them, as well as the history all around them. When we would tell children there was an actual ghost town on the grounds their faces would light up with a mixture of excitement and a little anxiousness too!
A major event in the city of Henderson and Las Vegas is the Native American festival that attracts a huge crowd every year because of the large Native American population throughout Southern Nevada, especially Southern Paiute tribes. During the festival we mainly were helping with beading crafts and assisting with various displays. There was also music and food as well. There were also a variety of booths and people could purchase Native American rugs, sand paintings and pottery. Indian artists had many displays. There were also presenters discussing different topics in Native American issues. Broadening one’s cultural horizons is an important priority of the Native American Festival because many people aren’t exposed to the artwork and other arts, both visual and audio. Southern Nevadans may get a better understanding of Native Americans ways of life, as well as the controversial pasts of many tribes and the U.S. government.
The Heritage Museum:
The Heritage Museum can be found in Clark County, Henderson, Nevada. It’s address: 1830 South Boulder Highway, and the phone number for information is: (702) 455-7955. It is open seven days a week from 9am to 4:30pm. Admission for adults is $1.50 and $1.00 for children. In addition, there is also a membership program to learn about the local history and to help support the museum. The benefits of an annual membership include discounts on museum events and programs, direct mailed invitations, a Clark County events cultural recreation calendar and an annual reception for members and donors. This way, members can be more involved in recreational events throughout the year. The layout of the Museum contains an inside information center, and an outer area where old historic homes can be found on “Heritage Street”, an old train section and an old ghost town. We got in contact with Mark Hall Patton again who is curator of the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum. This museum is located in McCarran International Airport and is named in honor of the retired U.S. senator. We informed Mark we were going to continue doing service at the Heritage museum, which he also oversees. Suzanne, who is in charge special projects, would find us tasks and work to accomplish and would leave us instructions for the weekends. We also worked with Dorothy who worked in the gift shop area and would supervise our projects to make sure we were doing everything correctly.
Inside:
Inside of the Museum there are separate depictions of past life in Nevada. There is one setting of men in an old small tent in a miners town; then there is an old log cabin depiction out in the middle of the desert, and this continues till we have old signs from Vegas, old cloths worn by Elvis and other famous artist. There even is a depiction of an old beauty parlor that use to be in down town Henderson. In each setting there is an audio player that will talk about the mining that is so prevalent in Henderson’s past, or what life was like in the 1940’s during World War Two and also life when Basic Magnesium and Hoover Dam were being constructed. From the Middle of February till April 28th there is a special exhibit that captures the Native American spirit in the valley. There are fifty-four color photographs by Andrew Hogarth that celebrates the Powwow and other Native American traditions. Hogarth traveled for seventeen years photographing traditional and everyday life of the Natives.
Outside:
History truly comes to life as one steps onto ‘Heritage Street’. It’s a unique collection of homes, many of them saved form destruction from newer buildings. They are fully restored and all put together on one street so that visitors can fully experience the past of the Vegas and Henderson valley. In our last paper we discussed in detail some of the houses on this block. The latest building that will be added to the street is the recently saved historic Grand Canyon Airlines Ticket Office Building. Before at 618 Arizona Street in Boulder City, it now will make it’s home at the Clark County Museum. It was set for demolition, but now will tell the story of the beginning of aviation in the area. This building was home to the first large Air sight seeing Grand Canyon tours. Later in 1935 it was the home for the first African Americans to live in Boulder City. The Bradley’s lived there and made lunches for the TWA flights.
The outside area also is an old 1932 Boulder City Depot that holds a 1918 Union Pacific caboose to walk through as well as an old ghost town. The ghost town is a reminder of what happened to many old cities in Nevada, and what might have been of Henderson if not for the construction of factories in the Second World War. There also is a replica of an old pueblo to remind visitors of the first people who lived in the valley. On the dirt road out to the desert there is a variety of plant life specimens for those who enjoy nature walking. Here is some of the current and past vegetation that commonly grows in the area.
Background:
Henderson is a relatively young city, incorporated in 1953. Henderson was born out of World War two and its need for magnesium, in which a mineral rich Nevada dessert was in abundance. It grew later out of the Colorado water Rights and an ever-growing industry rich economy. Now Henderson is home to nearly 1.4 million residents. However, before the miners and the dam builders where on Nevada's soil, in the very beginning there were others who ruled the land. Now the Native Americans mainly reside on reservations. The two main reservations in Nevada today are the Moapa Reservation and Fort Mojave reservation. The Reservations and colonies of the Natives host three tribes, the Washoe, Paiute, and the Shoshone. Traditionally these tribes depended upon hunting, fishing, gathering and many other techniques that are still being taught today. Yet, before there were reservations these people roamed free with their skill and ways of life. For many generations Native Americans have etched their stories and their pictures on the walls at the Valley of Fire, chanted their songs, wove their baskets, and hunted. The tribes that dominate Nevada’s history are those of the Northern Paiute, Southern Paiutes, the Washoe, the Goshute, and the Shoshone. The Southern Paiutes occupied the Las Vegas and Laughlin areas. The Washoe have lived in their homeland for nearly 4,000 years. They are well known for their basket weaving, with it’s refinment in design and it’s quality of construction. The strongest tribes of the Shoshone and the Paiutes have influenced Indian culture nationally and in their homeland of Nevada. In addition, a famous Paiute medicine man, Wovoka was a key figure in the 1890’s religious movement because his dreams directed him to spread the vision of his ghost dance to all Indians tribes. Many tribes sent representatives to Nevada for Wovoka’s guidance and inspiration. Native American women also had many achievements. Sarah Winnemcca was the first Indian woman to write a book, and she also pushed for education to further her people. A much larger linguistic group that spread northward to Washington State, Oregon, the Plains and down to the borders of Mexico was the Uto-Ateazns. Thus, language ties helped the Shoshone to travel vastly and become part of many Indian cultures, so many have been affiliated with northern United States tribes. One of the most famous Shoshone was Sacajewea, the well-known guide and interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Throughout the year we have dedicated our services to the museum and have enjoyed our time spent there immensely. Since this is our last semester working there, we decided to examine what we have accomplished and focus on what could have been improved, in order to do well on future service endeavors for other classes or extracurricular activities.
Betsy’s Critique:
The Heritage museum was a really interesting experience because I learned so much about local history and Native American History that I wasn’t aware of before. I feel Amber and I were very efficient in our time spent there, and we wouldn’t take a break until we were well into the various task and it was close to being completed, or the event was close to being done. I feel I could have been more organized in getting in touch with our contacts more regularly, because I would stop by the museum on certain occasions and there wouldn’t be anything for us to do that would take a good amount of time to finish. Location was also an issue. Even though I stayed at home during the weekend, money and time was a factor because I would spend about $30 in gas for the whole cost of the trip. Also, I had to arrange weekends with my employer and in order to make efficient time, and I was either leaving for Henderson very early in the morning or late at night in order to be back for class on Monday. In conclusion, I am very grateful for the time and patience our contacts took to work with us and made sure we were doing everything correctly. They were so great to work with and I was so glad to be a part of such a great establishment for a short time.
Amber’s Critique:
I really did enjoy my time spent at the Heritage Museum. The things that I learned definitely went past the over run we got in elementary school about Nevada’s History. I felt more pride and loyalty to my hometown and it’s interesting heritage. Those with whom we worked with could not have been any nicer or giving. Although I enjoyed my time spent there I can not foresee a career at a museum for me in the future. Spending time behind the scenes of the museum I got a first hand view of the day to day life as a historian in that atmosphere. There is much work to do and projects to create. Besides the creative work there is also a lot of mundane work with all of the cataloging, dusting and the slow pace that comes more towards the afternoons. I wish that we could have been more deeply involved in the projects going on in the museum. For instance I think it would have been interesting to help renovate the new airlines house that they will be adding to ‘Heritage Street’. I also wish that more background and research on the project could have been done but it felt as though many times our service was limited due to time conflicts and the long distance. Gas to drive down to Henderson was costly at $40-$50 a trip. If I were to do this project again I would choose a project closer to home so that I could have a larger part in the activities. Yet I still did greatly enjoy my time spent at the museum and in Henderson. My favorite part of the project was doing research on old Nevada, reading about ghost towns, or individuals that changed Vegas’ history forever. I was happy to help with or be a part of that history for this last year.
Web Sites used:
http://www.co.clark.nv.us/parks/clark_county_museum.htm
http://www.nativessporot.com/life-hist.html
http://www.lasvegas24hours.com/gen_na.asp