Category Archives: Exhibits and Events

El Dia De Los Muertos Altar / Exhibition, November, 2014

March 8, 2020Exhibits and Events, WorkDia de los Muertosjrdiaz@arizona.edu

I designed this year’s altar. Jennifer Eschedor loaned us her quilt, titled, “The Unknowns” for the occasion.

This year’s altar focused on honoring people how had died in 2015, including actors, musicians, writers and other prominent Americans, such as Pete Seeger, Maya Angelou, Lou Reed, Lauren Bacall, Carlos Fuentes and others. Jennifer Eschedor, a local educator and artist, also loaned her quilt, honoring those who had died while trying to cross the desert, to Special Collections, for display alongside the altar.

Here’s the promo I wrote for the altar:

Dia De Los Muerto Altar at Special Collections

The staff of Special Collections are once again setting up a “Dia De Los Muertos” altar in the Special Collections exhibit gallery. There are several ways you can participate. You are welcome to bring a photo of a departed loved one to place on the altar anytime from now until November 7. You can also join the procession that will take place at noon on Monday November 3. Led by a group of visiting teachers from Mexico, it will start at Special Collections and finish at the Cesar Chavez Building. “Pan de muerto” (Day of the Day bread) and hot chocolate will be served . Talks about the significance of “El Dia De Los Muertos” will also be presented by our guests from Mexico. Everyone is welcome!

ABOUT THE QUILT:

This quilt, titled The Unknowns, was made to commemorate the people who lost their lives while attempting to cross the US/Mexican border during fiscal year 2012-2013 as they were seeking a better life for themselves and their families. An organization called Los Desconicidos, founded by Jody Ipsen, seeks individuals and groups to use migrant clothing to create a quilt to honor those who have died during each fiscal year since 2000. I found the names and causes of death on a website provided by the Coalition de Derechos Humanos. My purpose for creating this quilt was to increase awareness of the horrors that continue at our border. The skull image has become a pop symbol, yet it is used here to hopefully confront viewers with the outrageous number of deaths (183) that occurred during one year. The skull, gun and hammer images were carved out of linoleum and printed individually on cloth. I wanted to give a graphic illustration of the cause of deaths. In the extremes of the desert environment, many bodies are found so decomposed that the cause of death, and even gender can not be determined. Working with jeans that were actually worn by the migrants made me feel a strong connection to them as real people….I couldn’t help but imagine the families they left behind.

I received a BFA from Kent State University in Studio Art with a focus in textiles. After teaching art in public schools in Pittsburgh, PA for a few years, I grew tired of the gray skies and moved out to Tucson in 1999 to attend the University of Arizona. In 2000, I earned my MA in Art Education and have taught in a variety of situations, both public and private in Tucson. Currently, I enjoy working in mixed media.

Jennifer Eschedor

A close up of this year’s altar, honoring those who had passed on in 2015.

A Philippine Festival and Potluck Party / Program and Exhibition (1998)

March 7, 2020Exhibits and Events, WorkPhillipine Independence Centennialjrdiaz@arizona.edu

When I was Assistant to the Dean for Staff Development, Recruitment and Diversity, I worked with a group called the Library Diversity Council to provide training and programming for the Library staff. One of our most memorable events was the Philippine Festival and Potluck Party we hosted, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Phillipine Independence from Spain. There were several Filipino staff members in the Library at the time, including MaryLou Myers, Aida Short, and Ditas Reitz, and they were able to convince a local club, The Mabuhay Dance Group to join us in the festivities. There was wonderful food, and the group curated an exhibition outside the Library Administrative Offices that was both informative and colorful. My role was that of sponsor, mostly. The bulk of the work on this one was done by Library staff. It was a fun event!

Celebrating Excellence: A.E. Douglass and Tree Ring Research / Exhibition (2015)

March 7, 2020Exhibits and Events, WorkA.E. Douglass, Tree Ring Lab, University of Arizonajrdiaz@arizona.edu

This exhibit in the Science-Engineering Library will offer a broad overview of the career of A.E. Douglass and basic information about the Laboratory for Tree Ring Research.

A.E. Douglass was an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona who headed the Stewart Observatory and established the science of dendrochronology, or the study of tree rings, which can be used to determine how old various archeological sites are. He also founded The Laboratory for Tree Ring Research in 1937. The exhibit will feature materials from the A.E. Douglass papers (Special Collections AZ 72), including photos, documents and artifacts from Douglass’s early youth through his later years. It will also feature material on loan form the Laboratory for Tree Ring Research, including a wooden beam from an archaeological site known as Chetro Ketl that is nearly 1,000 years old.

A.E. Douglass was born in Windsor, Vermont on July 5, 1867, the fifth child of the Reverend Malcolm Douglass and Sarah Hale Douglass. He grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and attended Punchard Free (High) School. His love for astronomy started at an early age. By his senior year, he was teaching the subject to other students. While in college, he excelled in the sciences. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1889 with honors in astronomy, mathematics and physics.

After graduation, Douglass found work as a research assistant with William H. Pickering at the Harvard College Astronomy. He spent a year there before he was sent to South America to help build an observatory in Arequipa, Peru. He traveled to various other locales in South America and soon met Purcivell Lowell, an amateur astronomer with whom he began to work and who like Douglass, had a strong interest in the study of the planet Mars.

In the ensuring years, Douglass found himself working for Lowell in Mexico, and then in Flagstaff Arizona where he supervised the building of the Lowell Observatory. He had a falling out with Lowell, and for a few years was a probate judge for the town of Flagstaff. By 1906, however, after having spent 12 years in Flagstaff, he secured a position at the University of Arizona. He taught physics and geography, among other topics.

Douglass entered the University of Arizona as Assistant Professor of Physics and Geography. Upon his arrival he, with the help of his Harvard friends the Pickerings, made sure that the University of Arizona had a telescope. It was a borrowed, 8 inch, refracting telescope, but it was better than what was there before. The telescope stayed at the University of Arizona for many years atop the original Science Building just north of Old Main, but was eventually returned to Harvard.

It didn’t take Douglass long to start lobbying the powers that be for an observatory. He argued that the Tucson skies were perfect for star gazing. His wish was finally granted when in 1916, Mrs. Lavinia Steward, a wealthy donor, gave the University $60,000 for a new observatory. It took nearly 6 years to complete, but Douglass happily witnessed a dream come true. The Steward Observatory was officially dedicated on April 23, 1923.

Douglass served the UA in other capacities over the years. He was head of the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Interim President, and Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Materials in this exhibit were borrowed from the following sources:

The Papers of A.E. Douglass, UA Libraries, Special Collections, Call # AZ 072
Andrew Ellicott Douglass biographical file, UA Libraries, Special Collections
The Laboratory for Tree Ring Research Archives
The University of Arizona Libraries Science Engineering Library
The University of Arizona Library, Special Collections

Leslie Feinberg: Unity in The GLBT Community / Program (1994)

March 6, 2020Community Service, Exhibits and Events, Gay issues, Gay Pride, Tucson history, Tucson LGBT history, WorkLeslie Feinberg, Tucson lgbtq historyjrdiaz@arizona.edu

Flyer designed by Ken Godat, Wingspan Board member and owner of Godat Design.

In the early 90’s I was a member of the American Library Association’s GLBT Book Award committee. One of the books published for the year under review was Leslie’s Feinberg’s groundbreaking novel, Stone Butch Blues. It brought to light the issues faced by people who were transgendered and it struck a strong chord with me. I lobbied hard for the book to win the award for fiction, and indeed it did, in 1993. At the time, my position at the UA Library was that of Assistant to the Dean for Staff Development, Recruitment and Diversity and part of my work was to engage in building partnerships with campus and community groups to help educate the campus and the community at large about issues faced by underrepresented or misunderstood groups, such as the GLBT community. I decided that it would be great to bring Leslie to Tucson, and worked with the members of Wingspan, the local gay community center to raise money to fund her visit, which took place during the Fall 1994 semester. We received support from the University’s Diversity Action Council as well as from the University Library and other groups.

This is the news release I wrote for the occasion:

NEWS RELEASE….NEWS RELEASE…NEWS RELEASE…NEWS RELEASE

September 1994

September 30, 7pm: Reading/lecture on Unity in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Community. Modern Languages Auditorium, University of Arizona.
October 1, 6pm: Book signing and reception at Wingspan, Tucson’s Lesbian and Gay Community Center, 422 N. 4th Ave.
Refreshments will be served.

Biographical sketch: Leslie Feinberg came of age as a young butch lesbian in the factories and gay bars of Buffalo NY in the 1960’s. Since that time, Feinberg has been a grassroots activist and a journalist.S/he is nationally known in the gay and transgender movements.

Leslie Feinberg was given the distinct honor of being the opening speaker at this summer’s Stonewall 25 rally in New York City, which drew millions of people from across the country and around the world. Feinberg’s novel, Stone Butch Blues, published on March 1, 1993 by Firebrand Books, has received a wildly popular response. The novel has received the prestigious American Library Association Award for Gay and Lesbian Literature and a LAMBDA Literary Award.

A video about Leslie Feinberg titled Outlaw (see excerpt below) premiered at the New York City Lesbian and Gay Film Festival this summer and is being distributed nationally and internationally.

Feinberg has toured the country for two years with the slide show on transgender issues that has played to packed audiences and standing ovations. Since October 1993, s/he has appeared on the Joan Rivers show and scores of other television and radio programs. Feinberg has been interviewed and and her work reviewed by virtually every lesbian/gay, transgender and feminist publication in the last two years.

Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come, originally published in 1992 by World View Forum. (Click on the title to read the pamphlet).

Biographical Highlights:

Winner of the 1993 American Library Association Gay and Lesbian
Task Force Book Award for Fiction.
Winner of the 1993 Lambda Literary Award for Small Press Fiction.
Subject of the video production, OUTLAW, which premiered at the
1994 Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in New York City.
Nationally known leader in the Gay and Transgendered movements.
Grass roots activist and journalist.
A feature length movie about Ms. Feinberg’s life is now in production in Hollywood.

bd 9/94

Here’s a copy of the article that appeared in the Tucson Weekly about Feinberg’s visit:

Feinberg’s visit was the first of several made to Tucson over the years. Within a few years of her visit, the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance was founded, which was a support and advocacy group whose focus was to support those who identify as transgendered. The group still exists and is stronger than ever.

From the Arizona Daily Wildcat, October, 1998

Feinberg returned to Tucson in 2004 for the following event.

In 2007, Leslie was the keynote speaker at the Annual Wingspan dinner in Tucson. Read about it here.

Read Feinberg’s obituary in the Advocate here.

Years later, after Feinberg died in 2014, when I was a member of the American Library Association Council, I authored a resolution for the Association that was passed in Leslie’s memory. I’ll never forget how encouraging and supportive Leslie was to me and my partner, with whom she became fast friends. She encouraged me to do more community organizing and complimented me on the work I did when I brought her to town all those many years ago. Introducing her to the Tucson community was one of the best moments of my career.

She was a true revolutionary.