“Stonewall 25”: Tucson Gay & Lesbian Pride 1994 Commemorative Program October 8, 1994
All posts by jrdiaz@arizona.edu
My life story: 1993
Things to know up front:
You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Click the back arrow key to return to the post.
Every chapter in My Life Story includes information about me, my work, my family and my friends. It also includes information about events that took place locally and nationally, etc. that I thought important enough to include. You’ll also find that I’ve included films, musicians and recordings/videos, in addition to books that were released in a given year.
While I have included many personal photos, most of the graphic content included below is borrowed from the Internet. I do not claim to own this material. I am just adding it for educational purposes. If the owners of any of the content in the “My Life Story” series want their stuff removed, I am happy to oblige. My email address is jrdiaz@arizona.edu. Thanks!
As I look back at 1993, I have come to realize that my job was just a part of my life, not my entire life. I’ve delayed writing about this period because I’ve been avoiding writing about the years when I served as Carla Stoffle’s assistant at the University of Arizona Library. In many ways, I felt inadequate, humiliated and burned as the Assistant to the Dean for Staff Development, Recruitment and Diversity. By the time I stepped down from the job eight years later, I was totally fried. I don’t want to just focus on the bad stuff, however, and I don’t have to, so I’m going to mostly write about all the other stuff that happened in my life. I have many fond memories.
1993 was a year that changed my life for the better overall. However, I had just been hired at the University of Arizona Library in June the previous year and was beginning to realize how intense my job was. It was very demanding, and at times I struggled to keep up with the pace. We were in the midst of a major organizational overhaul, and there was a constant demand for staff development and on-the-job training. I worked with a variety of people–national consultants, local consultants and other staff– to coordinate and deliver these efforts. We were in unknown territory, working to completely change the structure and culture of the library while consolidating units, changing work priorities and trying to convince people that diversity and working in teams were good ideas. There was a lot of resistance among the staff to these changes, but we charged forward.
I lived alone at the beginning of the year and turned 34 on January 15, but didn’t do anything but watch movies at home. My car was giving me problems, so I was stuck. The photo below is what my car, a 1980 Toyota Corolla, likely looked like back in 1980, when it was brand new. After having survived 12 Michigan winters, it was not nearly as pretty as it once was, but it was what I had at the time. I spent a lot of money on repairs, but by the following year, I’d have a new vehicle.
Here are some of my birthday cards from that 1993.
Nevertheless, here’s one of the songs of Charlie’s that I really like:
I have had lots of trouble with the issue of political correctness over time. I think my leftist friends can get quite dogmatic and they easily put people down who aren’t “enlightened” like they are. I disagree with a lot of what they espouse, especially when it comes to one’s chosen use of language/ terminology and attitudes about various issues like what foods one should or should not eat. There are certain words like queer and latinx, for example, that I’ll likely never use in my own day-to-day speech because I don’t like those terms, but they’re politically correct, so to speak. I also refuse to add pronouns to my signature. If you can’t tell I’m a dude, something is wrong! Seriously, if you want to know, just ask. But don’t make me feel obliged to include it as part of my signature. Oh well. I know who I am–a gay Chicano socialist, or as Archie Bunker might say a “commie, pinko, fairy” through and through. That won’t ever change.
Even though I had an uneventful birthday, a week or so later I got to go to Denver to attend the 1993 ALA Midwinter conference. I’d never been there before.
I was in Denver for just a few days, so I made the most of it and had a very nice time, but I was also there to work. In 1992, I had been elected national secretary of REFORMA, The National Association for the Promotion of Library Services to the Spanish Speaking, so I was obligated to attend and take minutes at all of the REFORMA meetings held at Midwinter ’93. Here are the minutes from two of the meetings I attended:
Reforma Executive Board Meeting minutes 1-24-93 Denver ALA MW
Reforma II Minutes ALA Denver 1-24-93
We were in Denver at a time when there was a lot of conflict in Colorado over Amendment 2, a ballot initiative passed by Colorado voters in 1992 that prohibited the state from enacting antidiscrimination protections for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, but that had been blocked by the courts. I and other colleagues from the UA Library, including our Assistant Dean Shelley Phipps, attended a protest rally at the Capitol in support of the gay population of Colorado. I did my best to keep up with what was happening.
The following article provides more detail about the controversial conference location and many of the activities that took place at the conference.
Under Protest ALA Midwinter in Denver
Here are two more articles that summarize the activities that took place at the conference:
A_Rocky_Time_in_Denver ALA Midwinter
American Libraries Midwinter by the Numbers
The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the exhibit titled “Aztec” at the Denver Museum of Natural History. I was blown away by the incredible sculptures and artifacts that were on display. The exhibit was gorgeous. I remember I hitched a ride with one of my colleagues, Janet Fore, but the car was crowded and Janet wasn’t very happy, so I had to find my own way back to my hotel.
I also got to eat at a few really good restaurants and explore the various record stores and bookstores in the downtown area, as well as the 16th Street Mall.
I also went out a few times to the gay bars and nightclubs. I remember one in particular. It was called “Charlie’s” and it was a very crowded country western bar. There were other gay bars around too, just to the east of the Capitol building on Colfax.
I really enjoyed the conference, but I had a lot of work to do at the Library when I got back. We were training our staff how to become teams, and we worked with a consultant named Maureen Sullivan. It was my job to communicate our plan to the staff. This work kept me quite busy. Having fun was a luxury, but I did manage to go to a few concerts like the one noted below.
I recently found the following announcement in a 1993 Library newsletter.
On the last day of February, I met someone. His name was Ruben. We hit it off and we fell in love. His mom grew up in the thirties in Superior, Arizona, next door to my dad’s family. She used to play with my aunts Carmen and Helen, and my dad knew her brother, Maclovio Barraza, a union organizer who had recruited my dad to join the union at the mine. Ruben and I had also gone to the same high school and worked at the same grocery store, but at different points in time so our paths never crossed before. It was uncanny. We became inseparable and by May, we decided to live together. It’s now been over 30 years!
In early April, at Easter time, I rented a car and Ruben and I drove with his friend Enrique Gomez and another guy named Roberto, who Enrique was dating, to Rocky Point. We had to take the long way, through the back roads in Sonora to get there, because Roberto was from the other side and could not cross into the US. It was a rough road, and the rental car I drove took a beating. This was not a great trip. We had some misunderstandings with Enrique, and things got tense. I realized on this particular trip that I didn’t like Enrique at all, and was never able to get over it. Ruben and I ended up finding our own hotel room in Rocky Point. The only thing that I liked about the trip was the food. We ate grilled fish and later found a little taco stand outside the hotel that sold the most delicious tacos. There’s nothing like tacos and beer to satisfy one’s hunger!
At the same time as the March on Washington, Tucson was hosting its 11th annual Tucson International Mariachi Conference. This year’s featured performers were Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Mariachi Cobre, Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Angeles Ochoa and Linda Ronstadt. I made sure not to miss this event!
Sometime in late Spring, Ruben’s niece Marissa, Jerry’s daughter, had her first holy communion at St. Ambrose Church. She was only five or six at the time, and was the cutest little girl. She lived with Ruben and her grandparents. Ruben bought her a beautiful dress for the occasion. We all gathered at his parent’s house afterwards. This was the first time I had been around his extended family. Here are some photos of the occasion.
By early May, Ruben and I were living together in a two-bedroom apartment on N. Shannon Rd, on the far west side of town, just down the road from Pima Community College West. The apartment complex was called Desert Hills Apartments and had been built sometime in the Sixties. He had convinced me to move there because the rent was a lot cheaper and it was close to his parent’s house. The complex consisted of several long buildings like the one shown below. We spent a lot of time at Ruben’s parents house, and they were very nice to me. Before I knew it, I was part of the family. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about my own family. They weren’t very nice at all.
The photos that follow were taken around his birthday on June 7. Our friends Roberto and Enrique Navarro joined us during the day, and later we drove to Albuquerque and stayed for a day or two. It was a fun trip. Some of the photos were taken on our drive back through central Arizona.
As soon as I got back to work, I had out of town guests to take care of and host. They were visiting the library from the University of Michigan. Barbara MacAdam was head of the Undergraduate Library there and Karen Downing was a librarian and member of her library staff. Lester Refigee was a student assistant who worked at the reference desk and was part of the Peer Information Counseling program. Carla Stoffle asked me to arrange for them to visit the UA Library to talk about undergraduate services and peer information counseling. They stayed at the Arizona Inn. Over the weekend, I took them on a tour of southern Arizona. We visited San Xavier, Patagonia, Tumacacori, Nogales and the Saguaro National Monument. It was a fun, but exhausting day, and they really enjoyed themselves. I did too. Barbara is now retired, and Karen still works at Michigan. Lester went on to get a medical degree and is now a physician in the Chicago area.
At the end of June I was traveling again, this time to New Orleans to attend the American Library Association’s annual conference. Man, it sure was hot there, and very, very humid. I cannot stand this kind of weather, but I wasn’t about to stay indoors. New Orleans is a hopping place, and I made sure to visit the sites and eat a lot of good food in the French Quarter. While at the conference, I attended REFORMA meetings and took minutes, but also found time to have dinner with friends, party at the gay bars and visit various bookstores and record stores, of which there was an abundance.
In early July, the Diaz clan held its first family reunion in Tucson. My dad and all of his living brothers and sisters showed up with their children and grandchildren. His brothers Raul and Val had already passed, but their children and families and the rest of the brothers and sisters and their families came from all over to partake in the festivities, which were held at St. Demetrius’s social hall and at Reid Park. We held another family reunion in 2007, and there’s currently talk of another being planned.
Status of Hispanic Library and Information Services : A National Institute for Educational Change, July 29-31, 1993. I was a member of the planning committee for this institute and was responsible for coordinating the opening reception. Members of the Library staff and students from the Library School assisted with the logistics and with hosting the event. A fun time was had by all.
I had spent the first half of the year at work coordinating workshops, participating in training and learning how to juggle many responsibilities at the same time. In August, after new team leaders were hired or appointed, we were finally ready to get the staff together to begin designing the work of their individual teams. We held all staff workshops, led by our ARL consultant Maureen Sullivan, at the Student Union in mid-August. The photos that follow give a snapshot of the work we did.
In October, I attended a workshop on management skills in Chicago. It was another program sponsored by the Association of Research Library Office of Management Services. I had attended one the year before in Raleigh, NC called “The Training Skills Institute”. Once I was done with the workshop, Ruben flew in from Tucson and we stayed and enjoyed a nice vacation in the city. It was lots of fun. I had been to Chicago before, but this was Ruben’s first visit. We went to the Art Institute, the Natural History Museum, the Al Capone Museum, and the Chicago Historical Society, and saw some great exhibits. We also went to the top of the Hancock building, and ate tons of great food.
I spent a lot of time in my job establishing ties with various Latino groups, including the services to the Spanish-speaking staff of the public library and Latino faculty on campus who were members of the Arizona Association of Chicanos in Higher Education, of which I became secretary for a year. I also met with Latino students enrolled in the library science graduate program. They helped me coordinate the reception for the Trejo Institute in July, and I later hosted them for dinner one evening at my home. On November 12, several of us took a field trip to Nogales, Mexico, where we visited with staff from El Colegio De Sonora and had lunch. It was a great group of students. One of them is now a library science professor at San Jose State. Others have already retired or are continuing their work as librarians in communities across the country.
Right before Christmas, Ruben and I were invited to Nogales by his friend Enrique Gomez, the same Enrique that we went to Rocky Point with back in April. We stayed in a hotel about seven blocks from the border, and hung out with Enrique and his friends at his house. We were supposed to go out to the bars with them, but decided to stay at our hotel. Enrique and I did not like each other, and I think we sensed that things weren’t going to go too well if we went along. Ruben, who doesn’t speak Spanish, was also badly treated by one of Enrique’s friends. We ended up eating campechanas at a small seafood stand across the street from our hotel, and shopping in the tourist area. I always enjoyed doing that.
A summary of the bulk of my 1993 staff development, training and diversity-related work activities (mostly June, 1993 to the end of December 1993) is included in the report linked below. I wrote this in January 1994. It gives one an idea of how busy I was in 1993. And the fun was just beginning….
1993 (June-December) Summary of Activities
Tina Turner remembered
Most of the material included here–record albums, photos, cds and magazine articles, etc.– comes from my personal archives. However, I’ve added a few videos, photos and graphics from other sources to help tell the story of my lifelong infatuation with the music of Tina Turner.
My earliest recollections of Tina Turner go back to when I was a 12-year old kid watching her on television performing Proud Mary with Ike Turner and the Ikettes back in the early 70s. She had long legs, wore mini-skirts and a long dark brown wig, and could dance and sing like nobody’s business. I can close my eyes and clearly see her and her girls dancing in unison like crazy, tossing their hair back and forth as they did a rolling motion with their arms, while Tina belted out the lyrics to Proud Mary. It was a wild thing to witness. The group must’ve appeared on several tv shows in the Sixties and Seventies. Their onstage energy was unmatched.
I must admit, I have not studied Ike and Tina Turner’s recording history much until just recently. Slowly but surely, I’m piecing things together. They first recorded together in 1960-61 and had a couple of hits that included “A Fool In Love” and “It’s Gonna work Out fine” which I remember hearing on some of the oldies anthologies that I had bought when I first started collecting albums in earnest while in college. I have a cd re-issue of their first album, shown above, titled “The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner”.
I also have a video of Tina performing with Marvin Gaye on the tv show Shindig in the mid-60s. I think they sang the song Money and I’ll be Doggone. She also performed A Fool in Love and Ooh Poo Pah Doo on the program. I used to love to watch the show on television. Aretha Franklin also appeared on it a number of times. It was great. Lots of popular groups performed on it and other shows like Hullabaloo.
Here’s more about the Big T.N.T. concert from Wikipedia : “The Big T.N.T. Show is a 1966 concert film. Directed by Larry Peerce and distributed by American International Pictures. It includes performances by numerous popular rock and roll and R&B musicians from the United States and the United Kingdom. A sequel to 1964’s The T.A.M.I. Show, and, like it, executive produced by Henry G. Saperstein, The Big T.N.T. Show was likewise shot on videotape and transferred to 35-millimeter film. Some footage from it was reused in the film That Was Rock, a.k.a. The T.A.M.I. / T.N.T. Show (1984).”
Two of the first record albums I acquired when I was in college were the legendary recording, River Deep Mountain High, and a compilation album titled, The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner, which consisted of songs recorded in the mid-60s on the Kent record label. Phil Spector recorded Tina singing River Deep Mountain High in England. He paid Ike to stay away from the recording studio while he recorded Tina’s vocals. The song has that very unique “wall of sound” quality that Spector was so famous for, and it features Tina singing her heart out. It was released in both the US and England, where it was a big hit. It didn’t do well at all in the States, however, and it is said that Phil Spector closed down his record company and went into seclusion afterwards because he was so disappointed in how the song did in the U.S. The album, while recorded in 1966, was released in England in 1967. In the US, the A & M label issued it in 1969. My copy has a few snap, crackle and pops, but doesn’t skip.
I have a 1971 French import issue of the album, “The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner” (not to be confused with their very first release from 1961, which has the same title), which consisted of songs Ike and Tina recorded in the mid-60s on the Modern and Kent labels. The album was released originally in 1966 on the Kent label. The recording I have is in pristine condition and sounds amazing.
Two additional albums that I have are of live performances recorded at the Skyliner Ballroom (Fort Worth, Texas) and the Lovall’s Ballroom (Dallas, Texas) in 1964.
The first recording was originally titled, “Live!: The Ike and Tina Turner Show” and was released in January 1965 on the Warner Bros. label (Catalog Number: W 1579). The version I have is titled “Somehing’s Got A Hold On Me”. It was released in 1971 on the Harmony Records label. Three of the songs on the original recording are omitted from this version.
The second recording of the 1964 live performances was originally titled, “The Ike and Tina Turner Show, Vol. 2”, and was released in January 1967 on the Loma label, (Catalog number: LS 5904). The version I have was released in 1969 on the Harmony Records label, and is titled Ooh Poo Pah Doo,
Because I had no idea of the details around the nearly 20 year recording history of Ike and Tina Turner, when I first started buying their records, I collected whatever I could find at the used record stores. There was no rhyme or reason to my collecting strategy, except that I liked finding records that cost under $5, and most of the ones I have averaged about $3 a disc.
In the late sixties, the group recorded for the Blue Thumb label, and many of the songs on the albums from this period are blues numbers. I really love the album, The Hunter, which I gave away to my good friends Mike and Denice. In hindsight, sometimes I think it was dumb of me to do that, but they were leaving town and I had to give them a gift, something memorable, so I chose that recording plus a John Lee Hooker album and a Taj Mahal album, all of which I had a hard time finding later. I did manage to find some of the Blue Thumb recordings on compact disc later.
She sang the blues like nobody’s business, but I’ve read that she didn’t like singing those songs that much. Dang. She’s one of the best blues singers I’ve ever heard. That’s really too bad, but there’s probably too much association with Ike Turner and the pain she endured while with him. I don’t think she sang the blues in the eighties at all.
Ike and Tina Turner began performing Proud Mary in their live shows in 1969. In 1970, they recorded the song and it came out on their album, “Workin’ Together”. It became a huge hit in 1971. The performance that follows was recorded for the Ed Sullivan Show, where they appeared live on January 11, 1970. It also includes Bold Soul Sister.
I didn’t know this, but Ike and Tina were the first rock act to play at the brand new Tucson Community Center back in October, 1971. Here’s a brief announcement about the concert:
A lot of their recordings in the 70’s appeared on the United Artists label. Here are the ones I have in my collection:
Tina suffered severe abuse as Ike’s wife, but she finally broke free in July, 1976, and never looked back. Their divorce was finalized in 1978. All she got out of it were two cars and her name, which Ike had trademarked years ago. The ensuing years were difficult for her, but she persevered. Her Buddhist faith kept her strong and focused.
It took her a bit of time to get back on her feet and find her own way, but by the early 80’s she was once again performing and attracting attention as a great singer and performer, this time as a solo act. I hadn’t really known the details about what was going on with her, but in the early 80’s, I clipped and saved some Village Voice ads promoting her performances at the Ritz in New York in September and October of 1981. They appear below:
Here are a couple of import cassettes that I found, both released in 1981. Both have the exact same song lists too. I can’t seem to find the original albums in which these songs first appeared.
I found a copy of the 12” single, “Let’s Stay Together” shortly after it was recorded in 1983 and released early in 1984. Al Green wrote the tune and it was a big hit for him in 1972. It was the first big record for her since she had left Ike, and it marked a major turning point in her career. She was especially big in England where the song went to the top of the charts.
Throughout her career, Tina has been on of the hardest working performers in show business. This concert is one of many examples of her amazing energy and talent. It’s from 1982, when she was performing on her own, a year before things started getting much better for her:
Here’s another amazing performance from around the same time:
Tina’s version of Let’s Stay Together, released in late 1983 in England and early 1984 in the US, rose to the top of the charts in England, and was the beginning of her rise to superstardom. Within a year, her breakthrough recording of Private Dancer would change things for her in a big, big way. She finally got the recognition she deserved as the world’s queen of rock and roll.
Private Dancer was released shortly after this in May, 1984.
Here is a snippet from Wikipedia, that details the incredible success of this album:
“The album was released on May 29, 1984, and became an outstanding global commercial success.[20][21][22] The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 chart for ten consecutive weeks[23] and remained in the top ten for 39 weeks from August 1984 to May 1985. In the United States it was certified 5× platinum.[24] In Germany, the album went 5× gold becoming one of the best selling albums in history. It peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, where it was certified 3× platinum, remaining on the charts for 150 total weeks. It was certified 7× platinum for the shipment of over 700,000 copies in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. The album has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.[25][26] At the 1985 Grammy Awards, Private Dancer won four of the six awards for which it was nominated.”
Her first big hit after her breakthrough album Private Dancer was released was “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. I liked the record a lot, but Tina has said she was reluctant to record it. She didn’t really care for it. I heard her say in an interview that “love has everything to do with it”, so I can understand why she didn’t care for the song. However, she also noted that the tune was catchy and that the public loved it. The video was quite popular, if I recall correctly.
The single, “Private Dancer” was also a big hit, but I didn’t like it much. I saw Joan Baez sing it in concert once with just her guitar. I thought it quite odd, but Joan loved Tina Turner, and there are several photos of them together, including the one below.
Tina sang on the We Are The World record, recorded on January 8, 1985. She was part of a huge superstar line-up that included Willie Nelson, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Ritchie, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Madonna and Bob Dylan.
I enjoyed seeing her on Live Aid on July 13, 1985. Her duet with Mick Jagger was quite memorable, especially the part where he rips off her skirt. I vaguely remember Patti Labelle and Tina getting into a bit of a tiff over one of them touching the other, and there being a bad reaction from one of them, because of the sweat that was pouring out. What the hell?
Just a few days after Live Aid, Tina appeared on the cover of People magazine. (This article and the US article are both in my personal collection of memorabilia). No mention is made of her life with Ike Turner and the abuse she endured during their marriage. She revealed all those details the following year in her autobiography.
Released on September 1, 1986. I read it at the time, but never had my own copy.
A week later, she appeared on the cover of US magazine. In this interview, she provides details about her relationship with Ike Turner. She had such a rough life with him, it’s incredible that she endured it for so long.
After Private Dancer, Tina appeared in the film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. I never saw the movie, nor do I have any of the recordings from it, although the song, “We Don’t Need Another Hero” was a big hit. I never took to it for some reason.
The following year, Tina released the cd, Break Every Rule. I never bought it, but I do have a 45 of one of the songs from it. I also have just the cover of another song from that album. I have no idea where I acquired it.
I just love this song. Man oh man!
Tina appeared in concert in Tucson in early December, 1987. I was living in Ann Arbor at the time, but would have gone if I’d been here.
By 1988, Tina was an international super star She had millions of fans, and drew immense crowds to her concerts. Here are some items from my collection, including her live album (part 1 is on cd, part 2 is on cassette. I don’t know how that happened) and an ad for a HBO special of a concert she gave in South America.
Tina turned 50 in 1989. I clipped this article from the Ann Arbor news.
I also have the following two photos in my Tina Turner file. These are from 1990.
In 1991, Tina released the following greatest hits compilation, which I have in my collection.
She has said that her favorite song is “Simply the Best”. She noted that her record producers didn’t care for the tune, but that she fought hard to have it recorded. Thank goodness. It’s become her signature song, and every time I see her perform it, I’m amazed at her energy and joy.
In 1993, the movie, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” was released. Directed by Brian Gibson and written by Kate Lanier, it is based on Tina’s 1986 autobiography I, Tina, and stars Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as her abusive husband Ike Turner. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the film, but not the entire thing. It’s something I plan to do soon.
Jumping forward to 1999, Tina appeared in the VH1 Divas 1999 concert. She tore the place up with her songs, “The Best” and “Proud Mary” on which she shared the stage with Elton John and Cher. She arrived in a limousine, and walked right on to the stage to sing Simply the Best. It was a moment to behold.
Rounding out my collection of Ike and Tina Turner recordings are two cd compilations from the late 60s, both consisting of material recorded on the Blue Thumb label.
When I hosted my radio show, “The Chicano Connection” (1983-1986, 2005 to 2020), I would regularly feature the music of Ike and Tina Turner. Below is a quick bio sheet I wrote up for my segment on Tina Turner in celebration of her birthday one year. I’ve also included a sheet full of the songs by Ike and Tina Turner that I played over the years while on the air.
Aretha Franklin had her feathers ruffled in 2015 when Beyonce’ called Tina “the queen” at the Grammys 50th anniversary show. This only made Aretha look bad. She was always quite insecure about her status as one of the world’s greatest singers. Tina later noted that Aretha was the queen of soul and that she was the queen of rock and roll and said there’s room for more than one at the top. I heartily agree.
Those performances that Tina Turner did live on television with Ike and her dancers will be forever embedded in the collective memory of people from my generation. There’s no justification, however, for what Ike did to her over the years, but I believe that you can’t just erase what you don’t like about the past. You have to acknowledge it. It happened and that’s that. However, there are indeed other things one can focus on at present, so I would rather just do that rather than ever, ever glorify Ike Turner.
Tina didn’t let her fame go to her head. She was a devout Buddhist and remained so from the mid-70s to the very end. She chanted the same chant my cousin Tish chants. I still have the card Tish gave me with the words Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
For a long time, my favorite songs were the blues tunes from the late 60s. 3 O’Clock in the Morning Blues, Dust My Broom, You’ve Got my Running, and Mean Old World are all very heartfelt and beautifully sung. Tina’s raspy, low voice is well suited to these kinds of songs. Too bad she didn’t care for the genre much. Oh well. At least we have the Blue Thumb records and cd compilations.
Lately, I’ve been enjoying discovering some of her newer work. I really like, “It’s Only Love”, the duet she sings with Bryan Adams, and I enjoy the song Steamy Windows a lot. I’m sure there are a lot more songs that I’ll enjoy as I continue to listen and learn.
What a wonderful recording legacy she left us. And it started in 1960, not 1983.
Here are two recent magazines featuring Tina Turner that I bought for my collection at Walgreens in early June, 2023.
I had no idea this duet existed until today, which is July 12, 2023. It’s amazing. The are great together. I’d never even heard of Jimmy Barnes until today, but he’s quite popular.
For more information, consult Wikipedia’s entries on Ike and Tina Turner and Tina Turner. Also see the entries, Ike and Tina Turner Discography and Tina Turner Discography for a more complete listing of their recordings than what I have included in this post. The site Discogs includes a lot of additional information about their various recordings.
AN IKE AND TINA TURNER TIMELINE TO EARLY 1991 (borrowed from the book, “Rock Movers and Shakers” by Dafydd Rees).
Tina Turner left behind a lengthy, rich recorded legacy going all the way back to 1960. The following lists of Ike and Tina Turner and Tina Turner 45 rpm singles is borrowed from the book “Goldmine 45 RPM Records Price Guide, 8th edition“, by Dave Thompson. (Krause Publications, 2018).
Genealogical Resources available in Special Collections at the University of Arizona 5/10/23
Welcome to the University of Arizona, the University Library and Special Collections!
What I will cover in today’s session:
Today I am going to provide an introduction to the UA Libraries and how to access materials using our online website and other tools. More specifically, I will focus on materials housed in Special Collections. I will also give you the opportunity to get some hands on experience using our materials, and if there is time, we will take a brief tour of the facility. By the end of today’s session, you should be able to know what kinds of information you can find here, as well as how and where to look for and locate materials that will aid you in your genealogical research.
About the University of Arizona Libraries
We are a major research library with a strong focus on Latin America and the Southwest. We’re also a major repository for federal government information. We have millions of items, including books, journals, documents and materials in every format imaginable. For the past 15 years or so our emphasis has shifted from a focus on building physical collections to providing access to collections via regional and national consortia or electronic access. We provide access to newspaper and journal/magazine literature through our subscriptions to various online indexes and full-text journal collections. We invest a lot of funds into Inter-library Loan.
For more information about our library see our “About Us” page and our page on UA Library history.
About Special Collections
Established in 1958, Special Collections is home to rare books, archives, and manuscript collections, photographs, maps and multimedia materials owned by the University of Arizona Library. We have primary research material in a wide variety of subject areas, including these areas of particular focus: Arizona and the Southwest, with a strong emphasis on mining and ranching, the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, literature, political affairs, the performing arts, the history of science, University of Arizona history, and architecture. We are currently open to the general public Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm. One need not make an appointment to visit, but it is strongly encouraged that one be prepared with lists of materials to request before arriving. We have limited staffing available at our front desk and prefer to have patrons make appointments with individual specialists in advance if in-depth assistance is required. To find a specialist in your area of study, contact us using our online research request form, available here.
Community member access to the UA Libraries
Our libraries provide a wealth of information and for the most part, as tax-paying, community members you have access to all of it.
Community members can:
- Use non-reservable spaces at the libraries during public hours
- Request a computer card to use the 6 public computers at the Main Library
- Use library databases when logged into the UAGuest wireless network anytime at any location on campus
Community members can also apply for a library card ($50 per year) to check out up to 25 books, journals, and documents at a time and use additional computers at the library. You can also place holds on materials.
Community members cannot remotely access databases, borrow laptops and technology, or reserve rooms and spaces, even with a library card.
The UA Libraries Website (https://lib.arizona.edu/)
The UA Libraries website is your gateway to the world of information. The more comfortable you are navigating it, the easier it will be to find materials in our collections and beyond. The key to mastering how to navigate this site is practice. (Think of Family Search or Ancestry.com. It probably took you several bouts of trial and error searching before you were able to use these sites effectively. The same principle applies to the UA Library website.) There are many links and layers to this website. It provides access to books, journal literature, full text material and a wide array of other products and services. I will provide a quick overview for you today, but it will be up to you to go back to it and explore it further. I encourage you to take time to learn how to find books and journal literature. There are a variety of easy-to-use tutorials embedded within the site that can help you learn how to be an effective researcher.
I will quickly review the various sections of the site for you, but we do not have time to go into a lot of depth.
Sections:
At the top: Services by category. Find Materials/Borrow and Request/Study and create/Research and Publish/About us/Ask Us-Chat
In the middle: searching tools (books, articles etc). Information about Library hours
Next: News and information about our public programs and exhibitions
Information about our branches. Information for specific populations, including alumni and visitors.
A closer look at access to primary research materials and newspaper access.
Local newspaper access is spotty. Online databases available through the UA Library only cover selected years of the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen. There exists a paper index to the Arizona Daily Star that also only covers a specific time frame. The best source that I have found for finding information in these newspapers is Newspapers.com, a commercial database available via subscription. I pay about $140 a year out of my own pocket for access to it because it is an indispensable resource. One can get a 2-week trial subscription to it before the service is cut off or payment is made to continue.
The UA Libraries have digitized a number of local Spanish-language newspapers including El Tucsonense. The search platform for these newspapers is not the best, however. The Arizona Memory project also provides access to El Tucsonense, I prefer using that one.
All of our newspaper databases: https://libguides.library.arizona.edu/az.php?t=38638
Historical Research: https://libguides.library.arizona.edu/type/historical
The Special Collections web page. https://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
As with the UA Library website, the Special Collections site has various sections, drop down menus, and a lot of information embedded underneath the surface. I encourage you to explore this site, as once you can navigate it well, you’ll be able to find just about everything housed in Special Collections here. We have a number of digital collections and exhibits that I encourage you to view and explore, including many digital photos of the University and southern Arizona.
The top portion of the website provides access to information about our collections (including digital collections), services, news and events as well as information about Special Collections.
The middle portion of the site is where one can find information about our collections by broadly arranged topics.
The next two sections feature information about our exhibits and events and news from our department.
About our manuscript collections and other specialized materials
There are a variety of ways to access our archival collections, including using our online catalog, doing a google search, using our Special Collections page, or other sources like Arizona Archives Online. Collections of manuscript material and personal papers are what are known as primary research resources. These are usually unique items like photographs, letters, diaries, draft manuscripts of publications, business ledgers and other materials.
When we receive a collection, there are several steps involved in the process. We first assess the material to determine if it fits within our collecting scope. If it doesn’t, we politely decline the material. If it does, we go through a lengthy process of preparing the material for public use. We sort the material, disposing of duplicates and other materials that are not “unique”. Then we determine how to arrange the material. We usually try to preserve the donor’s original order of material, but sometimes the material has to be organized by a staff member. We categorize, re-house the material into acid-free folders and boxes, inventory the materials, and keep track of what is in a collection, using ArchivesSpace. We do this by creating what is called a finding aid or collection guide. Nearly every archival/ manuscript collection in Special Collections has a corresponding collection guide. Here is a description of a typical collection guide: Using Collection Guides.
When you visit Special collections, there are various protocols that we ask you to follow. A list of do’s and dont’s is available here:
Tools we use to provide access to finding aids/collection guides:
According to the website: “The mission of Arizona Archives Online (AAO) is to provide free public access to descriptions of archival collections, preserved and made accessible by Arizona repositories, including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums. Through the collaboration of the Arizona repositories we strive to inform, enrich, and empower the researcher by creating and promoting access to a vast array of primary sources across the state of Arizona”.
About AAO (for more information).
| AAO Contributing Members |
| There are currently 14 institutions throughout the state of Arizona that contribute content to Arizona Archives Online: The Arizona Historical Society: Northern Division Arizona State Library, History and Archives Division Arizona State Museum Arizona State University Libraries, Department of Archives and Special Collections Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Aviation Safety and Security Archives, Prescott Campus Heard Museum Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives Lowell Observatory Library and Archives Museum of Northern Arizona Northern Arizona University, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives Peggy J. Slusser Memorial Philatelic Library Sharlot Hall Museum University of Arizona Library Special Collections University of Arizona Libraries. Arizona Health Sciences Library |
The UA Library starting using this product just a few years ago. It is similar to Arizona Archives Online, but a bit more cumbersome to use. It includes some information, such as materials in our backlog, not found in Arizona Archives Online.
Specific Collections that we will explore today:
This list is but a sampling of the various collections where one can find information about people for one’s genealogical research. Samples from these collections will be used in the next section of our session, where you will get hands on experience using our holdings.
Alianza Hispano-Americana Records, 1894-1965, 1920-1950 MS 663. Papers relating to the Alianza Hispano-Americana, which offered low-cost life insurance, social activities, and other services to primarily Mexican/Mexican-Americans living in the United States and Mexico. Founded in Tucson in 1894, Alianza was one of the first organizations to offer life insurance and burial policies to Mexican-American citizens. This collections includes photographs, financial files, correspondence between lodge secretaries, convention files, published materials, scrapbooks, and ledges pertaining to the daily operations of Alianza. Many of the ledgers include membership enrollment information, including members, their addresses, and lodge information.
Arizona and Southwestern Biographical File. The Arizona and Southwestern Biographical File contains biographical sketches, clippings, articles, and miscellaneous documentation of various people from the late 1800’s to the present. Individual files vary in content and size and do not contain photographs. Access to the material is through an index guide arranged alphabetically by surname. Single items on individuals will be found in the general folders for each letter while people with several items have their own folder.
Arizona Copper Company Records, 1882-1922 AZ 146. Business records of the company pertaining to administration of its copper mines which included the Longfellow Mine, Coronado Mine, Metcalf Mine, Clay Mine, and Humboldt Mine. Records include financial journals, ledgers, cost statements; payroll records, including accident reports and industrial compensation; production and sales records and inventories. Also included are records of the Arizona and New Mexico Railway Company; Clifton Hospital; and Metcalf Hospital; which were owned by the company.
Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives Arizona Reference Files, ca. 1850-1998 (bulk 1870-1970). SJA 004. This collection contains wide-ranging types of material regarding Jewish individuals and institutions in Arizona, principally southern Arizona. This material is especially reflective of the late-nineteenth century and the role of Jews in the Arizona Territory. The files consist primarily of newspaper clippings, scholarly and popular articles and excerpts, obituaries, auto-biographical reminiscences, copies of historical records, and correspondence. The bulk of the collection consists of secondary source material.
Catholic Church Diocese of Tucson Diocese Records, 1721-1957 MS 296. The bulk of the records in this collection are holographic sacramental registers that document baptisms, marriages, burials and confirmations of individual church members from 1863 until 1903, from parish and mission churches under the supervision of the Vicariate Apostolic of New Mexico (1850-1867), the Vicariate Apostolic of Arizona (1868-1896) and the Diocese of Tucson (1897-present). Two earlier registers from the Spanish Colonial Period document baptisms, marriages and burials from the missions of Tubac and Calabasas-Tumacacori under the administrative supervision of the Diocese of Durango (1620-1778) and the Diocese of Sonora (1779-1829).
John W. Murphey Records MS 603. This material demonstrates the day-to-day operation of Murphey’s many business ventures. The records contain construction job files, leases and mortgages, promotional and advertising materials, flooring and paint samples and schematics, correspondence, and financial ledgers. Most of the materials pertain to individual construction or renovation jobs between 1926 and 1957, or document the establishment of Catalina Foothills Estates. Also included are payroll records, which may be of interest to genealogists doing research on families in Tucson.
Pima County, Arizona Records 1864-1923 (bulk 1867-1904) Financial accounts, petitions, bonds, reports, leases, deeds, abstracts of titles, tax lists, bids, and correspondence related to Pima County operations. Chiefly records of the Board of Supervisors, such as letterpress copies of correspondence, petitions for appointments to county office, and financial demands and warrants. Other Board records include 1879 orders to incorporate the villages of Tombstone and Arivaca, and papers related to the construction of the first and second County courthouses. Assessor records consist of correspondence and a 1900-1907 block book. School records include financial records, correspondence, and reports. Teachers’ monthly reports indicate number of students enrolled; reports for Florence, 1873, and Tres Alamos, 1874-1875, give student names. School census reports, 1874-1904, list student names, race, whether native or foreign born, and parents’ names. Records of other county offices are from the Justice Court, District Court, Coroner, County Hospital, Jailer, Sheriff, Treasurer, and Election Office. A Probate Court docket dates from 1883 to 1885, and an Arizona tax list is for 1879.
University of Arizona Biographical Files The University of Arizona Biographical File has both photographs and printed materials of numerous UA faculty and staff, dating from 1867 to present. Individual files vary in content and size, containing biographical sketches, resumes, clippings and photographs. Since the photographs are interspersed throughout the collections, not every folder will have images. Access to the material is through this index guide arranged alphabetically by last name. Most individuals have their own folder, otherwise, the information will be found in the general folders for each letter.
Additional resources:
Special Collections Research Guides Subject specific guides created by our curators and student assistants.
Video tutorial for those new to Special Collections . An introduction to our holdings and information about how to use our resources.
Archive Tucson is a project of the University of Arizona Libraries and Special Collections to preserve the stories of our neighbors in Tucson and Southern Arizona. Most of our interviews focus on the second half of the twentieth century. We believe that a knowledge of local history matters: it confers a sense of place, community, and uniqueness. Our goal is to record interviews with a diverse cross-section of Southern Arizonans and ensure that their stories are shared today and preserved for tomorrow. Many of our interviews are online right now, and we’re adding more every month. All interviews are conducted by our resident Oral Historian, Aengus Anderson. If you have suggestions for interesting Tucsonans to interview, you can contact him here.
About me:
My name is Bob Diaz. I am a librarian and archivist here in Special Collections. I coordinate our department’s online reference service and am the curator for our collections in the areas of architecture and the performing arts. I will be celebrating my 31st year on the job here at Arizona on June 1. Prior to starting here back in 1992, I was employed at the University of Michigan Undergraduate Library as a reference and instruction librarian for over 5 years, and I started my library career as a children’s librarian at the Nogales/Santa Cruz County Library in early 1987. I received my Masters of Library Science degree from the University of Arizona in 1986 and my Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 1982, also at the University of Arizona. I was a volunteer disc jockey for KXCI radio, where I hosted a weekly program called the Chicano Connection for nearly 20 years. I put away my headphones in early 2020, just as the pandemic hit. Some of my radio shows can be accessed here. You can learn more about me and my work by exploring these sections of my website:
My Work: Exhibitions, Presentations, Programs, Publications, etc. etc.
While I do not consider myself an expert in genealogy, I have, for the past several years, been doing research on my own family history. I have focused specifically on my paternal and maternal grandfathers’ families, and have written about them on this website. You can learn more about them by clicking on the captions underneath each photo.
