Speaker 1: Welcome to steph you missed in history class from how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. And today's
Speaker 1: episode was actually inspired by our coworker Julie. Uh again, Yes,
Speaker 1: Julie and I hang out a lot, so I got
Speaker 1: lots of cool stuff from her. But also she just
Speaker 1: came back from a trip through the American Southwest. And
Speaker 1: when she came back, we had lunch and she was
Speaker 1: talking about Mary Russell Coulton with such fascination and delight
Speaker 1: that I was like, I'm going to look this person
Speaker 1: up and will maybe do a show on her. And
Speaker 1: we did. Uh. Mary Russell Ferrell Colton was a painter.
Speaker 1: We're not going to talk a lot about her painting, Uh,
Speaker 1: we'll mention it. But she was also an author and
Speaker 1: an educator. But the thing that makes her the most
Speaker 1: famous is the co founding of the Museum of Northern
Speaker 1: Arizona and related programs and projects intended to preserve and
Speaker 1: continue the art tradition of the Colorado Plateau. So quick
Speaker 1: geographical reminder slash overview the Colorado Plateau overlaps the four
Speaker 1: corners region of the southwestern United States. That's just where Colorado, Utah,
Speaker 1: New Mexico, and Arizona all meet, and it is, per
Speaker 1: the National Park Service, quote, one of the world's premier
Speaker 1: natural showcases for earth history. There are volcanic mountains, plateaus, buttes,
Speaker 1: and canyons, and a lot of National parks in the area. Uh. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's one of those things. I feel like people don't
Speaker 1: always think about how much human history is contained in
Speaker 1: these areas as well. We sort of associate I've talked
Speaker 1: about it before archaeology is something that happens elsewhere, but
Speaker 1: it's very Uh, there are a lot of really impressive
Speaker 1: digs that have happened in the area. We'll talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about some of those. Flagstaff, Arizona, which becomes
Speaker 1: a really focal point of Mary Russell Colton's story, is
Speaker 1: on the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau and there
Speaker 1: are six different ecological zones that can all be experienced
Speaker 1: within a hundred miles of Flagstaff and a wealth of
Speaker 1: history going back into prehistory. So it's a pretty incredible place.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of Native American tribes in the
Speaker 1: area as well, including the Zuni, have a Supie, Navajo,
Speaker 1: Hopie Ute, Willapie, Southern Piute, and piet Uh. And because
Speaker 1: Mary Russell Colton worked with several of those Native American tribes,
Speaker 1: that is why we mentioned them in this little intro piece.
Speaker 1: But now we're going to transition specifically to Mary Russell's story.
Speaker 1: She was born Mary Russell Farrell in Louisville, Kentucky, on
Speaker 1: March nine, to parents Joseph Librand Farrell and engineer and
Speaker 1: Elase Houston. The Houston side of the family was wealthy
Speaker 1: and filled with really prominent members of society. Her grandfather
Speaker 1: was Chief Justice of Tennessee Supreme Court, and they were
Speaker 1: related to Sam Houston, the seventh Governor of Texas, and
Speaker 1: through marriage, they were related to James K. Polk. As
Speaker 1: a child, Mary Russell was curious and inquisitive, and she
Speaker 1: loved learning, but her education in her younger years was
Speaker 1: pretty informal. She was drawn to art from the time
Speaker 1: she was small, though, and she had decided that it
Speaker 1: would be her career path before she became a teenager.
Speaker 1: When Mary was just fifteen, her father, Joseph died suddenly,
Speaker 1: and while he had been a really good provider and
Speaker 1: had done well for himself. At the time of his passing,
Speaker 1: the family was in a tight situation financially. They had
Speaker 1: just you know, kind of had one of those little
Speaker 1: dips of income, and unfortunately that is when he died.
Speaker 1: So at least her mother was forced to sell items
Speaker 1: from the household to make ends meet. And it was
Speaker 1: only through the patronage of a family friend that Mary
Speaker 1: Russell was able to attend art school in nineteen o four.
Speaker 1: That family friend was Mrs Annie Walbridge, and thanks to her,
Speaker 1: Mary Russell began taking classes at the Philadelphia School of
Speaker 1: Design for Women when she was just fifteen. The school
Speaker 1: was intended as a place where respectable women who found
Speaker 1: themselves needing to be their own bread winners could learn
Speaker 1: how to do so through a career in art. Yeah.
Speaker 1: This was you know, talking about post industry or part
Speaker 1: of the Industrial Revolution, where there were more and more
Speaker 1: instances where women were sort of finding themselves needing to
Speaker 1: figure out how to make an income, and particularly for
Speaker 1: women from wealthier families, art seemed like a good possibility.
Speaker 1: And Mary Russell practiced and studied all kinds of art,
Speaker 1: but she really gravitated towards oils as her preferred medium.
Speaker 1: She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and then went
Speaker 1: on to a year of post graduate work. She wasn't
Speaker 1: particularly disposed to socializing, but she was generally well liked
Speaker 1: by her peers at school. During this time, her mother
Speaker 1: also remarried. This was something of a surprise, but she
Speaker 1: remarried a successful publisher named Theodore Presser, and that marriage
Speaker 1: provided both Elise and her daughter, Mary Russell financial stability
Speaker 1: for the rest of their lives. After her postgraduate work,
Speaker 1: Mary Russell and two other students opened their own art
Speaker 1: studio in downtown Philadelphia, where they could all work. She
Speaker 1: also made money working for museums to restore art, and
Speaker 1: she did various work for higher art projects. Mary Russell
Speaker 1: at this point was still living with her mother and
Speaker 1: her stepfather, but she was not getting along particularly well
Speaker 1: with Theodore Presser. They had just tension between them, so
Speaker 1: Alice hatched a plan for Mary Russell to take a
Speaker 1: trip to ease some of that tension in the household.
Speaker 1: This trip was a hiking expedition in British Columbia in
Speaker 1: nine and Mary Russell really fell in love with the freedom,
Speaker 1: the hiking and the terrain of the West. When another
Speaker 1: opportunity to go on another similar expedition came up the
Speaker 1: following year. Mary Russell was delighted, and at one of
Speaker 1: the planning meetings she met Dr Harold Seller's Coulton, who
Speaker 1: was a professor of zoology at the University of Pennsylvania. Colton,
Speaker 1: like Mary Russell, had family money and his work as
Speaker 1: a professor was more of a passion than an income generator. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he really didn't make that much money teaching compared to
Speaker 1: what he already had in the bank uh from his family,
Speaker 1: and he also made some good investments along the way.
Speaker 1: And Colton was interested in this trip, but the organizer
Speaker 1: was unsure if he would be suited for it, so
Speaker 1: he actually asked for Mary Russell's thoughts on the matter,
Speaker 1: since she had been on the previous trip and really
Speaker 1: knew what it was going to take in terms of
Speaker 1: endurance and stamina, and she was okay with it. But
Speaker 1: she and Colton were at best sort of about each other.
Speaker 1: They didn't really hit it off, but they got along
Speaker 1: well enough and they were in the end both included
Speaker 1: in this party. During the trip, Harold Colton and another
Speaker 1: member had separated from the party for a planned side
Speaker 1: trip to California, and Dctor Charles Shaw, who was the
Speaker 1: organizer of this expedition, had taken them in by canoe
Speaker 1: to drop them off, but then he died on his
Speaker 1: way back to join the main party when the canoe
Speaker 1: over turned. So once the group was reunited after Dr
Speaker 1: Shaw's death, they did continue their travels, and it seems
Speaker 1: that during that time, Mary Russell and Harold grew closer,
Speaker 1: and after they returned to Philadelphia, they began a correspondence
Speaker 1: with one another. Initially, Harold was really more interested in
Speaker 1: a romantic relationship than Mary Russell was. She was just
Speaker 1: kind of interested in having a fun, smart friend. But
Speaker 1: they eventually fell into a courtship and they were engaged
Speaker 1: on May thirteenth, nineteen eleven, and married a year later
Speaker 1: on May twenty three, nineteen twelve. The wedding took place
Speaker 1: in the home of Alice and Theodore, her parents. Mary
Speaker 1: and Harold's honeymoon proved really pivotal. They traveled once again
Speaker 1: through the southwestern United States, and Mary fell even more
Speaker 1: deeply in love with this area. It was a pretty
Speaker 1: comprehensive trip as well. They visited Gloriata, Santa Fe, and
Speaker 1: Albuquerque in New Mexico, they traveled through villages all along
Speaker 1: the Rio Grand and into Arizona, which had only become
Speaker 1: a state a few months leier. On February fourteenth, they
Speaker 1: went to the Grand Canyon and all along the Colorado
Speaker 1: River valley, and then they made their way to California.
Speaker 1: Their journals and notes from this trip identified the American
Speaker 1: Southwest as a potential home for the two of them,
Speaker 1: and the couple, though did continue to live in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: They were in Ardmore at that point, but they made
Speaker 1: frequent trips west, studying Native American art. In particular, the
Speaker 1: year after their honeymoon, they went back, this time with
Speaker 1: friends in a much larger party. And for that expedition,
Speaker 1: Mary Russell and Harold really made an effort to prepare
Speaker 1: ahead of time and study Navajo and Hopie culture and
Speaker 1: connect with scholars in the eastern US who had connections
Speaker 1: to those people's on the Colorado Plateau. So on that
Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen journey, the Coltons visited several Native American villages,
Speaker 1: and they happened to be there just as a point
Speaker 1: of trivia. At the same time that Theodore Roosevelt was
Speaker 1: touring the area. Their curiosity also led them to exploring
Speaker 1: so many areas that their vacations over the next several
Speaker 1: years actually ended up identifying a number of spots that
Speaker 1: wound up being of interest to archaeologists. The Colorado Plateau's
Speaker 1: archaeology surveys started based on locations that the Coltons had
Speaker 1: recorded as being of interest. And we're going to talk
Speaker 1: more about their travels and discoveries and their archaeological connections
Speaker 1: in just a moment, but first we're gonna pause for
Speaker 1: a little sponsor break. Few years into their marriage, on
Speaker 1: auguste the Coltons had their first child, a son named
Speaker 1: Joseph Ferrell Colton, and this was the first year that
Speaker 1: they didn't make it back west in the summer because
Speaker 1: of the baby's birth, and they also skipped nineteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: but they did go back to Flagstaff, Arizona for an
Speaker 1: extended visit in nineteen sixteen, and one of the Colton's
Speaker 1: discoveries that would have a lasting impact on research in
Speaker 1: the area happened that summer, and it was actually thanks
Speaker 1: to their toddler who found a broken ceramic piece and
Speaker 1: handed it to Harold, who identified it as potentially important
Speaker 1: and as a result, a decades long archaeological survey of
Speaker 1: the area was conducted. Mary Russell and Joseph Farrell stayed
Speaker 1: in Flagstaff after the summer due to a polio outbreak
Speaker 1: back in Philadelphia. While Harold went back to his teaching duties.
Speaker 1: Mary Russell ended up happening upon another site on an
Speaker 1: autumn horseback ride that led to new information about the
Speaker 1: prehistoric peoples of the area. These discoveries and others these
Speaker 1: are not the only two that they were part of,
Speaker 1: really got the Colton's excited about the archaeological and anthropological
Speaker 1: research potential in the Colorado Plateau area, so much so
Speaker 1: that Harold's interests really started to slowly transition away from
Speaker 1: zoology and he started writing more archaeological papers, and Mary
Speaker 1: Russell was also interested. She co authored a paper with
Speaker 1: her husband in nineteen but her interests really remained more
Speaker 1: intently on the contemporary cultures of the Native Americans in
Speaker 1: the area. Their second son, Saban Woolworth Culton, the Fourth,
Speaker 1: was born on September four, nineteen seventeen. That plus the
Speaker 1: onset of World War One, in which Harold served in
Speaker 1: the military intelligence, disrupted their regular visits out west. Once again.
Speaker 1: They returned in nineteen nineteen, and soon they were bringing
Speaker 1: family and friends with them as they had before the war.
Speaker 1: Mary Russell lost her mother unexpectedly when Alice died while
Speaker 1: visiting them out west in nineteen Because Mary Russell was
Speaker 1: dealing with a combination of shock and grief at this
Speaker 1: sudden loss, Harold made arrangements for the family to stay
Speaker 1: in Tucson, Arizona, through the winter and spring instead of
Speaker 1: returning to Pennsylvania. So in late spring of nineteen three,
Speaker 1: they moved from Tucson to Flagstaff. Their youngest son, Saban,
Speaker 1: who was six at the time, got sick during their
Speaker 1: time and Flagstaff, and his ailment was eventually diagnosed as
Speaker 1: that fever. This is an infection that developed after inhaling
Speaker 1: a fungus that's commonly found in dry arid areas. The
Speaker 1: family returns Philadelphia, but Saban never recovered, and the next
Speaker 1: year he died on May third. They had had these
Speaker 1: two tragedies in a row, but unfortunately there was another
Speaker 1: one coming At the beginning of nine. The family had
Speaker 1: to deal again with another loss when Harold's father, Saban
Speaker 1: Woolworth Colton Jr. Who their son had been named after
Speaker 1: died on January twenty nine, and that year the Coltons
Speaker 1: decided to reclaim happier times, and they purchased land that
Speaker 1: they had been camping on almost every year that they
Speaker 1: visited Flagstaff, as well as another parcel of land right
Speaker 1: next to it that I had a home built on it.
Speaker 1: And this was really their first step toward moving to
Speaker 1: their beloved American Southwest, although they did spend one more
Speaker 1: winter in Philadelphia before leaving permanently. Mary really loved Flagstaff,
Speaker 1: but she was underwhelmed at the town's effort to preserve
Speaker 1: and promote the Native American art and culture in the area.
Speaker 1: The Woman's Club of Flagstaff had assembled a small gallery
Speaker 1: of things like pottery, baskets, and blankets, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: nearly as robustic collection as Culton thought that it should be.
Speaker 1: Mary Russell and Harold envisioned creating a science and art
Speaker 1: facility that could accommodate a wider scope of Native culture
Speaker 1: and communicate to visitors and residents alike the environmental and
Speaker 1: cultural heritage of the Colorado Plateau. Additionally, as Mary Russell
Speaker 1: and Harold made their nearly yearly trips to the plateau,
Speaker 1: they had also started seeing archaeological finds packed up and
Speaker 1: taken away to museums on the East coast, and they
Speaker 1: were not the only ones that were noticing that it
Speaker 1: was strictly a flow out where all of the culture
Speaker 1: was kind of being taken elsewhere. As early as ninety two,
Speaker 1: local papers were running articles discussing why antiquities from the
Speaker 1: Colorado Plateau weren't being housed in a museum there in
Speaker 1: the area. That called a local citizens had been the
Speaker 1: catalyst for the Flagstaff Woman Club to set up their
Speaker 1: small collection, but the desire and need for a larger
Speaker 1: effort to protect the area's local heritage was in the
Speaker 1: minds of more people than just the Coltons. The Coltons
Speaker 1: were able to step in and offer some financial resources
Speaker 1: that had been lacking in this whole project, and as
Speaker 1: early as nineteen twenty four, before the couple had made
Speaker 1: Flagstaff their permanent home, they had paid for display cases
Speaker 1: that the Woman's Club exhibit. They really wanted to back
Speaker 1: this whole effort, so uh, as Tracy just said, even
Speaker 1: before they were really local residents, they were still they
Speaker 1: were already giving money to this effort, and in the
Speaker 1: late summer of nine a Museum study committee was appointed
Speaker 1: by the flag Staff Chamber of Commerce. Harold Colton was
Speaker 1: on that committee and Mary Russell was also added. After
Speaker 1: the initial group formed by December of nine, a constitution
Speaker 1: and by laws for the museum were written, but then
Speaker 1: there was debate about whether it should be part of
Speaker 1: a college or a standalone institution, and the Coltons felt
Speaker 1: strongly that it should exists outside of the confines of
Speaker 1: a college structure, and it should offer something back to
Speaker 1: the community whose art and culture it was intending to preserve.
Speaker 1: And a letter that appeared in the Coconinot Sun, Mary
Speaker 1: Russell wrote, the desirability of the establishment of a museum
Speaker 1: for the care of our geological, zoological and archaeological treasures
Speaker 1: is acknowledged by all, but has the great educational value
Speaker 1: of a continuity between the ancient and modern Native arts
Speaker 1: been thoroughly considered. Our opportunity for this dual development is
Speaker 1: exceptional here located, as we are close to the Hopie
Speaker 1: and Navajo Indians, whose people have instituted the very arts
Speaker 1: that you are about to go to much pains to preserve. Today,
Speaker 1: those people's will soon have forgotten the secrets of their crafts,
Speaker 1: and when they vanish, our country will have lost its
Speaker 1: only true Native American art. This is our chance to
Speaker 1: lend them a hand, encourage our Indians to produce only
Speaker 1: the best using the beautiful old designs available in museum,
Speaker 1: where they would bring their finest examples of modern an
Speaker 1: Indian craftsmanship for exhibition and sale, side by side with
Speaker 1: the work of the ancient people's. So okay, obviously there's
Speaker 1: some stuff to talk about here. We should make it
Speaker 1: clear that Colton had good intentions. She really did want
Speaker 1: to preserve indigenous art and give the Native peoples of
Speaker 1: the Southwest the resources to preserve and develop their own
Speaker 1: artistic traditions. She tried to get input from those people's
Speaker 1: when planning archaeological work and figuring out what to put
Speaker 1: in the museum's collection, and then later on when she
Speaker 1: worked on educational systems. But at the same time, she
Speaker 1: was making a lot of these decisions in a pretty
Speaker 1: paternalistic way, assuming that she knew what was best to
Speaker 1: preserve another people's heritage. She also wrote about Native American
Speaker 1: artists and their culture and ways that were simultaneously complimentary
Speaker 1: and dismissive. She considered this work to be cultural handicraft
Speaker 1: and not fine art, and this was a pretty common
Speaker 1: mindset among wealthy white progressives at the time. Additionally, Mary
Speaker 1: Russell had some concerns about the proposed placement of the
Speaker 1: museum on college property. She thought that was going to
Speaker 1: put it in a less affluent part of town, which
Speaker 1: would detract from its mission because no one would want
Speaker 1: to go see art in a poor neighborhood. Uh. Yeah.
Speaker 1: She also one of the other things that becomes tricky
Speaker 1: when you're reading her writing is that she uses a
Speaker 1: lot of words that we would separate out today kind
Speaker 1: of as synonyms. So she would talk about art, craft, handicrafts, um,
Speaker 1: you know, other words that we're all really referring for
Speaker 1: her to the same thing, but today have more specific meaning.
Speaker 1: So that gets a little tricky when you're reading her
Speaker 1: writing as well. But we are going to delve into
Speaker 1: where all of this museum discussion led in just a moment,
Speaker 1: but first we will take a little break and have
Speaker 1: a word from a sponsor. So the Colton's continued to
Speaker 1: advocate pretty vocally for the museum to be an independent
Speaker 1: entity and not part of a college. Uh. And they
Speaker 1: eventually got their way and By the end of that year,
Speaker 1: a nonprofit corporation was founded to govern the museum, that
Speaker 1: year being n and in May of nine, a board
Speaker 1: of trustees was elected. Harold was the Museum of Northern
Speaker 1: Arizona's Board of Trustees president and Museum Director, which is
Speaker 1: a position he was elected to in that May meeting.
Speaker 1: Mary was the facility's art curator and eventually also became
Speaker 1: the curator of Ethnology. For the next two decades, the
Speaker 1: couple steered museum's development and direction, and because they were
Speaker 1: running everything themselves, they had a unique level of autonomy.
Speaker 1: Researcher William James Burns wrote this and his thesis about
Speaker 1: Mary Russell Coulton quote. A potential threat to validity exists
Speaker 1: when a researcher or institution receives funding for a study
Speaker 1: from an outside agency, whether federal, state, municipal, or private.
Speaker 1: The Culton's independent wealth sheltered their research studies from outside influences.
Speaker 1: Although they resisted the notion that the museum was theirs,
Speaker 1: In point of fact, the Coltons funded the institution in
Speaker 1: full for the first thirty years of its existence. From
Speaker 1: eight from ninety, Doctor and Mrs Colton enjoyed the luxury
Speaker 1: of pursuing studies that they were interested in without having
Speaker 1: to be concerned about utilitarian purposes for their work, or
Speaker 1: without a funding agency with an agenda encouraging them to
Speaker 1: push a certain set of values. That's sort of this
Speaker 1: will sound um, sort of like I am a brilliant
Speaker 1: student of the blazingly obvious, But that really struck me.
Speaker 1: I had not considered how unusual that situation would be.
Speaker 1: Where you set up your own museum, and even though
Speaker 1: it is a public museum, you could go, no, we're
Speaker 1: just going to do what we want. Uh. I imagine
Speaker 1: most people that work in museums today would have a
Speaker 1: hard time even contemplating what that would be less like uh.
Speaker 1: And initially though, the museum was still housed in the
Speaker 1: Flagstaff Woman's Club building, but soon it really grew too large,
Speaker 1: even after it had expanded from that single room that
Speaker 1: was there when they moved to Flagstaff to fill the
Speaker 1: entire clubhouse. So at that point the museum was basically
Speaker 1: paying to rent the clubhouse as a museum space. The
Speaker 1: next additional space was actually annexed in a nearby hotel storefront,
Speaker 1: but even that was quickly overrun, there was not enough space,
Speaker 1: so a larger, more permanent space just became more and
Speaker 1: more of a pressing need. In ninety two people visited
Speaker 1: the museum, and this was noteworthy because there were fewer
Speaker 1: than people living in Flagstaff at the time. Finally, in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three, after the nonprofit incorporated, which gave it
Speaker 1: legal right to own property, Mary Russell donated twenty nine
Speaker 1: acres to the museum, dedicated to her deceased son Sabing,
Speaker 1: so that the permanent facility could be built to house
Speaker 1: this ever growing collection. The Coulton's financed the construction as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the way it tended to work out was that Mary's
Speaker 1: family money was paying for things like land, and Harold
Speaker 1: Colton's family money was paying for things like the construction.
Speaker 1: Mary Russell was, as we too earlier, very focused particularly
Speaker 1: on Hopie and Navajo arts, and she was concerned that
Speaker 1: these cultures were losing their knowledge of the old methods
Speaker 1: of creating art, and so she sought to bring education
Speaker 1: programs to the museum and its education efforts that was
Speaker 1: going to keep them alive. And in her writing about
Speaker 1: teaching this information though, she was really careful to instruct
Speaker 1: teachers to give children and adults alike the tools and
Speaker 1: knowledge to create using methods that were classic or handed
Speaker 1: down through Native people's but to let the artists make
Speaker 1: their own decisions about using those tools to express whatever
Speaker 1: they desired. She also advocated for craftsmen within Hopie and
Speaker 1: Navajo villages to be chosen as teachers and paid for
Speaker 1: their work. She really looked at these projects from their
Speaker 1: absolute base material needs all the way through to their completion.
Speaker 1: So she wanted weavers to have the best quality wools,
Speaker 1: so she studied breeds of sheep to find the one
Speaker 1: that produced the most optimal fibers. She hunted down indigo
Speaker 1: pigment that was closer to what had been you in
Speaker 1: legacy Hopie textiles, which was more brilliant and richer in
Speaker 1: tone than the colors that had come into favor over
Speaker 1: the years. And in the realm of pottery. She worked
Speaker 1: to recreate the methods that had once been common in
Speaker 1: Hopie work, and to achieve this, she not only had
Speaker 1: to experiment with trying different paints and firing procedures, but
Speaker 1: she also went so far as to test different soils
Speaker 1: for the creation of clay to replicate previous methods as
Speaker 1: closely as possible. Another idea she promoted was for each
Speaker 1: community or school to have its own sort of informal
Speaker 1: mini museum where work that had been produced by students
Speaker 1: could be exhibited and rotated each year. And we've spoken
Speaker 1: before on the show about the federal Indian boarding school system,
Speaker 1: which sought to eliminate Native culture from children through a
Speaker 1: system that was really designed, as we mentioned, particularly in
Speaker 1: our two parter on the Fort Shaw women's basketball team,
Speaker 1: to quote kill the Indian and save the man. And
Speaker 1: this approach, which was intended to strip Native American students
Speaker 1: of their cultural identities, was an utter failure with truly
Speaker 1: grim and damaging results. So this idea of education was
Speaker 1: turning a little by the time Mary Russell Colton was
Speaker 1: implementing her own programs and writing about teaching that Native
Speaker 1: American children. A lot of this shift was thanks to
Speaker 1: a scathing report on the schools published in nine titled
Speaker 1: quote the Problems of Indian Administration, and it was still
Speaker 1: an issue of discussion. She believed that quote teaching them
Speaker 1: their own crafts when they are young, and thus encouraging
Speaker 1: them to feel a pride of race would go far
Speaker 1: towards solving some of the most difficult and painful adjustment problems.
Speaker 1: Colon really thought that it was possible and beneficial for
Speaker 1: Native American students to get an education that was going
Speaker 1: to blend both an Anglo and a Native American curriculum.
Speaker 1: She wasn't really interested in this idea of assimilation that
Speaker 1: had given rise to those horrible boarding schools, and she
Speaker 1: also really believed that education needed to be carefully tailored
Speaker 1: to each tribal culture where it was being implemented, rather
Speaker 1: than developing one curriculum that was trying to serve every
Speaker 1: single village. In the same way, she fought aggressively to
Speaker 1: ensure that all public schools had art as part of
Speaker 1: the curriculum. She wrote and published a passionate letter to
Speaker 1: citizens of Northern Arizona as an extra publication of the
Speaker 1: museum's newsletter, and which she pleaded quote, do you know
Speaker 1: that art education is being deliberately strangled in the public schools?
Speaker 1: Your children are being deprived of their rights to a
Speaker 1: creative education. Art education is both a practical and liberal
Speaker 1: education in life, and as closely inextricably correlated with every
Speaker 1: other subject in the school, Our enlightened country should feel
Speaker 1: shame indeed at having countenanced for a moment such a
Speaker 1: backward step in education. And in nine, just four years
Speaker 1: after the Coltons moved permanently to Arizona, Mary held the
Speaker 1: Arizona Artists Exhibitions, and in these shows, local artists had
Speaker 1: an opportunity to share their work with an audience and
Speaker 1: promote what they had to offer. This was, in her mind,
Speaker 1: also away for them to generate an income. This exhibition
Speaker 1: was very successful and it continued to be an annual
Speaker 1: event for the next six years. As an offshoot of
Speaker 1: the exhibition success as a teaching tool, Mary Russell Coulton
Speaker 1: created a traveling exhibit that she could take around to
Speaker 1: schools and to other museums to show collections that featured
Speaker 1: art from a variety of Native American cultures and explained
Speaker 1: the techniques that were used to create them. Traveling educational
Speaker 1: shows were called treasure chests. Yeah, sometimes they would just circulate.
Speaker 1: She wouldn't necessarily go with them, but they would like
Speaker 1: go to a school with a little curriculum. Uh. Explainer
Speaker 1: included for teachers to kind of talk through with kids
Speaker 1: what was in the box, and they could have them
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks at a time. It was
Speaker 1: kind of an interesting idea. She was not the first
Speaker 1: person to come up with that idea. There were other things, uh,
Speaker 1: there were other educators that were trying similar concepts um
Speaker 1: but Mary Russell Coulton really wanted to ensure that the
Speaker 1: children of this areo we're getting both in education, in
Speaker 1: local art history as evidenced by these touring teaching exhibitions,
Speaker 1: and also she wanted to make sure that future generations
Speaker 1: were going to learn and preserve the art techniques and
Speaker 1: methods that were part of their cultural history. To that end,
Speaker 1: she started a junior art show for grade school children
Speaker 1: to share their work in nineteen thirty one. She felt
Speaker 1: very passionately that all children should receive art lessons, no
Speaker 1: matter what future career or life they might have, and
Speaker 1: after several years of working with children and developing a
Speaker 1: curriculum for teaching art, in four Colton wrote a book
Speaker 1: to teach other educators in the region titled Art for
Speaker 1: the Schools of the Southwest, An Outline for the Public
Speaker 1: and Indian Schools. This very busy and productive time in
Speaker 1: Mary's life was not something that she could sustain though,
Speaker 1: she turned back to her own art started painting again,
Speaker 1: but at the same time she turned away from most
Speaker 1: social activities. She increasingly stayed home. Eventually, she was diagnosed
Speaker 1: with Arthur sclerosis of the brain, which is a condition
Speaker 1: in which there's a thickening or stiffening of the brain's
Speaker 1: arterial walls. This is associated with certain types of dementia,
Speaker 1: and it puts patients at a high risk for stroke.
Speaker 1: In night, Mary stopped working full time at the museum.
Speaker 1: Her husband, Harold, though, continued the programs that she had begun,
Speaker 1: and as she planned to leave her job, she worked
Speaker 1: on writing down ideals that would guide the museum's art
Speaker 1: department after she was gone, and those were to stimulate
Speaker 1: Native American arts and crafts, to foster creativity in the community,
Speaker 1: and to present the museum's scientific information artfully. Even when
Speaker 1: Mary Russell retired, she still had a position of authority
Speaker 1: at the museum. As chair of the museum's Art Committee.
Speaker 1: She could continue to steer the policies and decisions without
Speaker 1: the burden of her full time position. She was chair
Speaker 1: of the Art Committee for a decade, stepping down in
Speaker 1: that same year. She also had an exhibition of her
Speaker 1: own paintings, and Harold retired from his position as director.
Speaker 1: The following year, nineteen fifty nine, when the museum celebrated
Speaker 1: its twenty fifth anniversary. Mary Russell attended the celebration, but
Speaker 1: her health had really started to decline. Uh. Harold Colton
Speaker 1: died on December twenty nine of nineteen seventy and Mary
Speaker 1: died the following year, on July six, ninety one. She
Speaker 1: was eighty two at the time. She was buried outside
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia in a cemetery where her family had a plot.
Speaker 1: And finally, how he wanted to include a sentiment that
Speaker 1: Mary Russell wrote as part of a paper titled Art
Speaker 1: as a Personal and Economic Necessity because it really encapsulates
Speaker 1: why she was so passionate about art and about sharing
Speaker 1: it and teaching it. We travel rough roads in life,
Speaker 1: and we all know that there are many joys that
Speaker 1: slip away and many disappointments along the road. But if
Speaker 1: we have a love of beauty, life will hold many
Speaker 1: satisfactions for us which we cannot lose, and we can
Speaker 1: feel that it has been worthwhile. I have listener mail.
Speaker 1: Have two pieces of listener mail today. Uh. They are
Speaker 1: both about um Mary Breckenridge, and they're both very fairly brief,
Speaker 1: so I thought we had time to do both of them.
Speaker 1: Our first one is from Christine and she said, I
Speaker 1: just finished listening to your episode about Mary Breckenridge and
Speaker 1: her work, especially in Appalachia. I know that is pronounced
Speaker 1: differently by different people. However you liked to pronounce it.
Speaker 1: Is great. Reminded me of our own local hero. Dr
Speaker 1: Kate Newcomb was a doctor in northern Wisconsin in the
Speaker 1: nineteen thirties in our rural area. Like Mary, she came
Speaker 1: to a place where there was not an established system
Speaker 1: of medical care for residents, and she helped to establish
Speaker 1: it during the harsh winters. Instead of traveling by horror,
Speaker 1: she gained the nickname Angel on Snowshoes that she would
Speaker 1: find a way to her patients however she could. Eventually,
Speaker 1: she too wanted to start a hospital, and for funds,
Speaker 1: she turned to an unexpected source school children. Kids at
Speaker 1: a local school wanted to see what a million some
Speaker 1: things would look like, so they collected one million pennies
Speaker 1: and they donated the funds to Dr Kate's hospital. I'm
Speaker 1: a local teacher and I always make sure we do
Speaker 1: some hometown history research so that students can learn about
Speaker 1: Dr Kate and other local heroes. Keep up your great work.
Speaker 1: I refer my students to the podcast is a way
Speaker 1: to learn a little bit more about whatever we're studying.
Speaker 1: Thank you Christine for being an educator and also what
Speaker 1: a great story. I think. There are so many um
Speaker 1: unsung people in the medical industry that have have done
Speaker 1: similar things throughout the years, so I'm glad any of
Speaker 1: them get a little more attention. Uh. The other one
Speaker 1: is from our listener Jenny. She says, Hi, I wanted
Speaker 1: to drop a quick line of thanks for the many
Speaker 1: hours of listening joy you've given me. I've listened to years,
Speaker 1: first when I was living in Egypt, where you'd keep
Speaker 1: me company on my walk to and from work, and
Speaker 1: now in Iraq as I try to film the many
Speaker 1: hours of relative boredom. She works for the u N
Speaker 1: and she spends a lot of time on the road,
Speaker 1: flying around uh or simply in a car driving around
Speaker 1: northern Iraq to work camps for people displaced by conflict.
Speaker 1: Over the last few years, I always feel like I
Speaker 1: have a couple of friends with me talking about super
Speaker 1: interesting things. Which helps keep my mind from stressing about
Speaker 1: falling out of this guy she's afraid of flying, or
Speaker 1: from endlessly dwelling on the many, many horrible stuff stories
Speaker 1: of suffering we hear in the camps. I found your
Speaker 1: episode on Mary Breckinridge especially interesting, as many of the
Speaker 1: medical issues she was dealing with we are still grappling
Speaker 1: with as well. Ensuring that children have access to quality
Speaker 1: healthcare in a combat post war setting is tremendously challenging.
Speaker 1: I won't go into the gory details here, just mentioned
Speaker 1: that the parallels between her work in World War One
Speaker 1: and our current work are quite striking. It's amazing how
Speaker 1: while the methods of war have changed, the work to
Speaker 1: be done in the aftermath has not. UH. She wrote
Speaker 1: a really great blog post about the challenges of working
Speaker 1: for children's health in in Iraq, and she thinks us
Speaker 1: to the many happy hours of listening. Jenny is another
Speaker 1: person who should be thanked for her efforts, because that
Speaker 1: sounds like a very, very stressful and demanding job, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad someone wonderful is doing it. But it is
Speaker 1: interesting that Mary Breckenridge brings up all of these these
Speaker 1: UH ideas of parallelism because there's still plenty of places
Speaker 1: in the world that need help to So I just
Speaker 1: wanted to read both of those since one reaches into
Speaker 1: the past, one into our current timeline. Uh, and they're
Speaker 1: both very interesting. Yeah. I also wanted to mention at
Speaker 1: the end of our Mary Russell Colton that there is
Speaker 1: a secondary story about her that I want to explore,
Speaker 1: I think in a separate podcast. So in case any
Speaker 1: of you know about her and you go, why did
Speaker 1: you not mention the Philadelphia Ten, which was a group
Speaker 1: of women artists that we're all exhibiting together, and she
Speaker 1: was part of that, uh, and it evolved, it wasn't
Speaker 1: always the same women. But it's an interesting story. And
Speaker 1: so if you're wondering why we didn't mention that, because
Speaker 1: I'm saving it for the future because I wanted to
Speaker 1: focus more on her work uh in the American Southwest.
Speaker 1: So that's what's up with that. If you would like
Speaker 1: to write to us, you can do so at History
Speaker 1: Podcast at how Stuffworks dot com. You can also find
Speaker 1: us pretty much anywhere on social media as Missed in History.
Speaker 1: Missed in History dot Com is also our website where
Speaker 1: you can find every episode that has ever existed, long
Speaker 1: before Tracy and I were involved at the show, as
Speaker 1: well as show notes for any of the episodes that
Speaker 1: Tracy and I have worked on, So come on and
Speaker 1: visit us at miss in history dot com. For more
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how staff
Speaker 1: works dot com. M