The Center for Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College opened a new exhibit Thursday that highlights the history of the National Park Service in the Four Corner States.
The exhibit is titled “Parks, People, Preservation: Celebrating the National Park Service in the Southwest”, and it was initially motivated by a partnership between the Center and Mesa Verde National Park, which was to be the focus, Shelby Tisdale, director of the Center, said. Following a turnover at the director position the decision was made to change the focus to be more encompassing of the history of the Southwest, which allows for more of the Center’s collection to be displayed.
In total “Parks, People, Preservation” examines 55 sites, including 13 national parks and 42 monuments, historical and heritage sites, Tisdale said.“We thought we’re in such a rich area, not just of parks, but of archaeological ruins and ancestral sites and natural parks that instead of focusing on just one we would broaden our scope and focus on all the Four Corner states and look at all the wonderful parks and monument and historic sites that we have.”
“This area is really unique; we have some of the premier archaeological sites, really in the world, located in this section of the country and by preserving those we allow people to see them, we allow people to study them, to gain more insight into the cultures that were here, not only the Native Americans but everybody that’s come through,” said Cristy Brown, public information officer for Mesa Verde.
The exhibit hopes to capture this rich history by looking beyond just the sites and examining the peoples who historically inhabited these areas, the individuals who were instrumental in the establishment of the parks and issues faced by the modern park service, which is currently celebrating its centennial, Tisdale said.
Also included is a look at the people attracted to these sites and the souvenirs they took home in the form of photographs, postcards and an eclectic assortment of novelty items targeted at tourist, said Julie Tapley-Booth, business and public relations manager for the Center.
“It’s not just focusing on the artifact collection, but we’re drawing from our archives and our library,” Tisdale said. “It makes it a little more unique.”
One notable item drawn from the Center’s library is a copy of “The Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde” by Gustaf Nordenskiöld, which represents the first scholarly analysis of these Ancestral Puebloan ruins.
Also included in the collection are photographs of sites around the Southwest taken by William Pennington and Lisle Updike, who once operated a photography studio in Durango, she said. “These are just beautiful, beautiful photographs and they all date from the early 20th century.”
Private donors such as Nina Heald Webber of Florida, who donated over 3,000 postcards to the Center, have been important in the compiling of items for display at the new exhibit, Tisdale said. “She has helped up to really put together quiet an extensive collection of not just postcards but a lot of different kinds of memorabilia.”
Some of these postcards offer a different look into the history on the parks and monuments due to personal messages written on them by their original owners, she said. “Some of the messages are just so interesting, some are ‘having great time,’ that’s it, some others it’s like a life story on these postcards which makes them so fascinating.
Tisdale hopes this exhibit will remind people of the richness of public lands in the Four Corners and inspire them to get out and experience some of the space set aside for public enjoyment in the west, she said.
This sentiment was echoed by Brown.
“It reminds people that we’re still here and it encourages them to come back and see us again,” Brown said.
This exhibit is free to the public and will be open through Dec.6, Tapley-Booth said.
Luke Perkins is a Full-time Student at Fort Lewis College and an Intern at The Durango Herald. He can be reached at Lukep@durangoherald.com