Virtual 2021 Spring History Highlight
The Old Trails Museum will present our 2021 Spring History Highlight online through the Virtual AZ Speaks program from Arizona Humanities. On Saturday, April 24, at 2 pm, OTM will host Dr. Robin Pinto’s presentation of The New Deal and the Civilian Conservation Corps in Arizona: Connections to Our Historic Landscapes.
Arizona Humanities has temporarily transitioned their popular speaker presentations online so that statewide audiences can still enjoy high-quality cultural programming in these challenging times. Register for the virtual program here.
In this engaging presentation, Dr. Pinto will explore the history of the New Deal and how Arizonans responded to its challenges. It is an inspirational story of how individuals worked to better themselves; a story of how communities took care of inhabitants and total strangers during drought and Depression; and a story of how we, as a state, improved the lives of all and left an important built legacy for generations to come.
That legacy is still written in our landscapes, buildings, and communities – including Winslow. Today, we use those historic sidewalks, schools, and post offices without knowing that they were built for us more than eighty years ago. We enjoy parks and forests that were restored for us long ago. We can celebrate those “bootstrap” labors and remind ourselves that we, too, can rise above adversity to improve our lives and the lives of those around us.
Several years ago, also with funding from AZ Humanities, Dr. Pinto joined a group of historians to develop The New Deal in Arizona: Connections to Our Historic Landscape, a printed map that provides a brief history of the New Deal and describes more than fifty heritage tourism sites around Arizona with New Deal-era buildings, landscapes, and remnants. The University of Arizona Libraries have since created a New Deal in Arizona website with the map, site descriptions, photographs, and detailed directions to these historic projects, many of which are still in use today. As the website recommends, “Plan a New Deal journey today!”
Dr. Pinto, who has an MLA and PhD from the University of Arizona, studies the evolution of cultural landscapes in Arizona. She writes historical landscape assessments for the National Park Service; works with the BLM Heritage Technical Team to study landscape change at the Empire Ranch and Cienega Creek watershed; and volunteers for numerous non-profit preservation organizations. She recently completed a book with three other historians entitled Cowboys and Cowgirls around Ajo, Arizona.
OTM’s 2021 Spring History Highlight is made possible by Arizona Humanities, and we are grateful to them for giving us the opportunity to offer this program in a safe and engaging way.
