Tag Archives: arizona
Archaic Origami
The amazing thing about museum collections is that their objects represent people, real people. Someone once made or used the objects and they hint at lives lived and stories to tell. This past weekend I was at the Grand Canyon. At the Visitor’s Center in Tusayan, a National Geographic IMAX film shows a scene with [...]
Making Connections
“Its interesting. I’ve never seen a picture of him before,” pondered Chental Spencer my student employee, after catching sight of her great grandfather John Willie, Jr. in ASM’s newest exhibition on Navajo Code Talkers. She also saw a picture of another of her great grandfathers, Richard Thomas. Chental recalled when he was awarded the Congressional [...]
Relatives of Sid the Ground Sloth (Ice Age)
Sid the ground sloth in the Ice Age movies is adorable, a pain in the neck with his shenanigans, but pretty appealing as a character, specially with the mothering instincts exhibited in Ice Age 3. Arizona is no stranger to this Pleistocene animal. The Shasta Ground Sloth was widespread in the Western United States up [...]
Ancient life in the driest desert in the world: a report from the field
Today’s blog is a report from the field by Dr. James Watson who has been in Chile teaching and researching supported by a Fulbright award. When I arrived in Arica, Chile to start four months of research on the dental health of some of the world’s oldest skeletons I had no idea how barren a [...]
An Object’s Stories
We surround ourselves with objects—some practical, some sentimental, others purely aesthetical. What do these objects mean to us? What do they say about who we are and the lives we live? I teach a University class that trains students to lead the field trip programs in the Paths of Life exhibit. The guides are called [...]
