
President’s Letter
At the first meeting of your new officers and board in January, we
discussed Museum goals for the upcoming year. We agreed that the
most important goal was to try to put the Museum on a firmer
financial footing. Our situation is this: Based on figures
from the last few years, our yearly expenses run around $50,000.
This includes two salaries, utilities, exhibit construction. etc. and is
pretty much uncutable. However, our yearly income is only $35,000,
leaving us a yearly shortfall of around $15,000. There is far more
variation in our income than in our expenses. Last year, for
example, while the Jailathon brought in less money than in previous
years due to Havasu’s economy, we got a $14,000 grant for the Natural
History exhibit. But obviously we can’t count on always being so
fortunate.
As you know, we receive
no federal, state or city funding, so we depend on the citizens of
Havasu for our continuing financial support. You, our members, are
the rock on which we have been able to build our museum. Your
membership dues provide a reliable source of income, but there are other
ways that you can help us as well. Most helpful would be to make a
yearly financial pledge to the museum. This can be paid in
whatever way is most convenient for you (check, credit card, etc)
and annually, semi-annually or monthly. It need not be a large
sum, it is just important to us that it is money that we can count on to
continue our efforts.
Hoping to encourage your participation, Bob and I pledge to match any
funds donated or pledged to the Museum from March 2008 to March 2009, up
to a total or $3000. In this way your $100 gift would result in a
$200 donation to the Museum—can’t beat that!
A pledge form for your use is included in this newsletter.
Together we can insure that our Museum of History will continue to tell
residents and visitors alike the story of the city we all love so much.
As always, our thanks for your support.
Lyle Matzdorff, President
Curators Corner
Research for the development of the Mohave Indian Exhibit has been
interesting and has included looking into the prehistory of the Yuman
Tribes, including the Mohave, in the form of the intaglios or geoglyphs.
These are large figures on the desert surface formed by picking out
rocks to show the lighter surface below the age-old desert varnish, also
known as desert pavement. They can also be formed by stacking rocks for
the design or by repeated walking a path to depress the ground.
These huge figures are in the form of humans, animals, geometric forms
or symbols, or mazes which are so large that most can only be
distinguished from the air. Many are partly ruined by vehicles
which do not even know they are there. The closest sites to the
present day Mohave people are in the Needles, California area and
stretch down by the Colorado River to Blythe, California with some on
the Gila River.
The Nasca lines in the
Peru/Chile desert are the other most widely known site of
geoglyphs.
The exhibit will also
include two Power Point presentations prepared for us by Dr. Harry
Swanson on the foods and medicines of the desert. These have been
displayed before at the Museum..
Another part will
be a winnowing basket, a utility pot, hopefully one or two of the
decorative Mohave ceramics and two mano and metate sets which young
people like to use to grind mesquite beans.
Ruth Brydon, Curator
WE HAVA-HISTORY
Tree Stumps Being Removed From the Lake Article from the News Herald,
April 27, 1967
Click HERE to read
Read
WE HAVA-HISTORY
Excerpt from “Chain Saw Age” Magazine January 1972
This is an in-depth description of the First London Bridge Days October
10, 1971
Click HERE
Read Carlton Fraze's Hava-History Article Click HERE!