RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Our first walking tour, in the City of Tucson historic district, has been completed! The "Tucson Walking Tour" brochure is available through this website or by request for mail copies. Mary Melcher, Ph.D., AWHT Historian, with able assistance from Julia Arriola, Arizona Historical Society Curator, was responsible for the major research and organization of this tour. Our AWHT graphic artist, Shona Patel, was the brochure designer. AWHT gratefully acknowledges that the Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona provided the funding for this self-guided tour.

We are currently in the process of developing the Central Region (primarily Maricopa County) driving tour. We anticipate completion and opening announcements by the end of this year. It is anticipated that we will have at least 25 or more new women/sites as a result of research conducted by Dr. Melcher, with volunteer contributions from Heidi Osselaer, Ph.D., AWHT scholar and author, Winning Their Place: Arizona Women in Politics 1883-1950. Heidi is also a faculty associate in History at Arizona State University. Other AWHT scholars and researchers have participated in the ongoing research and in the designation of the Central Region women/sites for this driving tour and for the website.

Our centennial project, a statewide traveling exhibition highlighting 23 AWHT women and women's groups, is advancing within the time lines for this project. Funded by the Arizona Office of Tourism, Arizona Humanities Council, and Arizona Public Service, the exhibit will travel, beginning in January 2010 for four years, through 2013, the 150th territorial anniversary. Following guidelines for the Rural Tourism grant program of the Office of Tourism, John Langellier, Sharlot Hall Museum Director and AWHT Council member, volunteered for the museum to serve as the Exhibition Headquarters. Space for the exhibit construction along with the loan of exhibit travel panels and other in-kind service support is being supplied by Anne Woosley, Executive Director of the Arizona Historical Society (AHS) and member of the AWHT Council, and Peter Welsh, Director of the AHS Tempe Campus and AWHT advisor. We appreciate this valuable assistance from Sharlot Hall Museum and AHS.

The exhibit will travel primarily to rural communities, but will enjoy Arizona Historical Museum venues in Tucson and Phoenix as well. The exhibition, entitled "How Splendid is our Past," which is a partial quote from Sharlot Hall, Territorial Historian and one of the women highlighted in the exhibition, will travel to its first venue at the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum with an opening date in mid January 2010. Carrie Gustafson, Director of the museum and AWHT Council member, invites you to visit this remarkable museum and the traveling exhibition along with other memorable and permanent museum exhibits. Some of the highlights from this AWHT Centennial Exhibition will be featured on this website soon.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! AWHT Chair Judith Register has announced that the annual meeting will be held on Friday, November 13, 2009. The location is tentatively scheduled at the Inter-tribal Council, Inc., beginning with the scholars and council members attending morning sessions Friday morning followed by a general session with brown bag lunch and program. AWHT friends and supporters are welcome to come to the afternoon session. More details soon!

"HELP US TELL THE OTHER HALF OF THE STORY"

With the ever-increasing development of AWHT and in light of the current dire financial crisis, individual donations are needed more than ever. Please consider supporting this legacy project and help us "tell the other half of the story!" You may forward contributions to our mailing address, 18743 East Bravo Lane, Rio Verde, AZ 85263. Donations made in memory of a loved one or of a woman who has made a major impact in your life, will be gratefully acknowledged on this website. If you are donating in honor of a woman who has affected your life in a positive manner, please add a paragraph about her and why you are contributing in her name. Thanks for your consistent support. Questions? Call Joan Meacham, Executive Director at 480-471-7792 or Email womensheritagetr@aol.com.