"Gold Fever!" Strikes Ocotillo! & Rotary Club Volunteer Day

Rotary volunteers and Interact members

This was a big day for the IVDM. This morning El Centro's Rotary Club and the Southwest High Interact Club spent Rotary's National Volunteer Day curating at the museum. Eusebio, who holds the museum's title for Most Artifacts Curated in One Day by One Person, challenged his Rotary peers to beat his record.
One person came close, but at the end of the day Eusebio still held the record at 181 artifacts. Over the intense cataloging session 17 people curated 348 artifacts in 3 hours. That's equivalent to a full days work by our CDAS partners. The staff sends a big thank you out to El Centro Rotary for organizing the event and helping us curate IVC's collections.

One of the 348 artifacts curated by El Centro Rotary and SW Interact Club. 

Later in the afternoon, visitors from Imperial County, Jacumba and as far as San Deigo helped us celebrate the grand opening of our first traveling exhibit. "Gold Fever! Untold Stories of California's Gold Rush". It's amazing to think that last January we just finished the curation lab and today we have a full exhibit up on the walls.

Nearly 100 people visited throughout the afternoon to eat tacos at the cart sponsored by the El Centro Rotary Club, listen to traditional cowboy music performed by El Centro's own Jugless Jug Band, and view the exhibit. Adults and children alike enjoyed testing their knowledge of the area and identifying good hiking areas our new
topographical map of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

Families enjoyed our miner's cabin and trying to identify different objects in the miner's trunk a miner would have brought with him for work and for fun.The Jugless Jug Band played timeless favorites like "Buffalo Girls" and "Little Brown Jug" and quizzed the museum staff on the historical meaning of each verse to "She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain".  We didn't know nearly as much as we expected we would.

This exhibit opening represents an amazing milestone for us as a fledgling museum and the IVDM staff would like to thank everyone who has helped make this museum a reality.  Thank you to all of our visitors for coming out, and we hope to see more of you soon!

Ocotillo Rocks, Again!

Whew! The Ocotillo Rocks event just got over. 

We had a full building with 107 people in attendance. Joe Rodrigues from the Gem and Mineral Society gave a talk on the geology of the Imperial Valley and showed different kinds of rocks that are found here. Chuck Bucher followed up with a gave talk on how rocks were used by Native Americans in the Valley. Lots of families came and children entertained themselves at craft stations where they painted rocks and built coiled clay pots. 

New Map!

We have spent a long weekend gathering a new addition to our education collection. The San Diego Model Railroad Museum donated a three dimensional map that used to sit outside the museum's front entrance.  They are replacing the map with a new exhibit so plan a visit after the summer to see the new trolley!

The topographical map of San Diego and Imperial counties is 8x19 feet - massive inside our exhibit space! - so not all panels will be on display at once.  The map highlights the amazing landscape of Imperial County and we like being able to see all the places we've hiked this year. The map will be on display during Ocotillo Rocks on the 20th - see the flyer below!

Coiled Clay Extravaganza

Jessica and Allison work with kids to make pots

April 6-7 our Curator, Jessica Brody and assistant Allison Brody went up to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to help with the 10th Annual Archaeology Weekend, sponsored by the Colorado Desert Archaeology Society, Anza-Borrego Foundation, and California State Parks.  Our friends at the CDAS make the drive down to Ocotillo twice a month to help the museum curate artifacts.  We were happy to give back by running the coiled clay table, something we've become known for, and join volunteers Carol Black and Astrid Webb in showing over 80 children how to make coiled clay pots.

Jessica teaches coiled clay

We also joined the activities at the Children's Fair for the second year in a row. Once again Kohl's Cares volunteers stepped up to help us work with 143 elementary and high school students to work with coiled clay.

 A good time was had by all!

First Loan to Turn into Accession

The museum has past another milestone!

One of the grants programs we built this summer focused on the care of audio cassette tapes that contain oral histories told by Tom Lucas, the last Kwaaymii to learn English as a second language. The tapes include Mr. Lucas repeating what I'm told is the earliest known Kumeyaay bird song, past down to him in the early 1900's. We have had these tapes on loan for several months and yesterday the owner gifted them to the museum so we can digitize, transcribe and make accessible these irreplaceable histories.

Anza Borrego Archaeology Weekend

Hello IVDM Members and Supporters - 

Below is a schedule of events that was passed to us from our Colorado Desert Archaeological Society volunteers. The annual Archaeology Week at Anza Borrego Park is on April 6-7th next month. The Museum will be participating this year assisting with the coiled clay demonstration table and presenting "20 years of Community Stewardship: The Imperial Valley Desert Museum". 

The partnership with the CDAS group provides us with 3-4 curation volunteers twice a month and, along with our core group of 15 local volunteers, has been instrumental in helping us curate over 13,000 artifacts since April 2012. The museum staff is happy to have an opportunity to support their annual event celebrating the history of our local deserts. 

Colorado Desert Archaeology Society

10^th Annual Archaeology Weekend

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center

Borrego Springs, California

                                                         April 6-7, 2013         

   

sponsored by the California State Parks, Anza Borrego Foundation and the Colorado Desert Archaeology Society

THEME:  Stewardship . . . Caring for our Cultural Heritage

Saturday, April 6, 2013        

Events

9 - 4:30   Silent Auction at the Begole Archaeological Research Center. Bidding closes 4:30 pm. 

  Winning bids announced 5:00 pm. (Winners need not be present)

10–4:00  Native American Basket and Pottery Display and Demonstrations.  (Craft items for sale)

                         

9:30 - 4   Tours of the Archaeology Lab.

  Groups depart from the Visitor Center front door approximately every half hour.

10 - 4      Pottery Making Demonstration & Kids Activities - Includes clay grinding and paddle & anvil construction

               techniques. By Archaeology Volunteers Carol Black, Astrid Webb and Jessica Brody Imperial Valley Desert  

               Museum.  (Clay will be available for spectator participation)

12-1:00  Walk: Desert Drug Store.  By ABDSP Certified Interpretive Guide, Abby Barker

4- 5:30   Free Ice Cream Social:  Ice cream sundaes and announcement of silent auction winning bids at 5:00.

              Begole Archaeological Research Center, patio area.

Lectures

10 – 11   The Many Faces of the Colorado Desert Archaeology Society (CDAS) in the Stewardship of Cultural   

              Resources in the California State Park’s Colorado Desert District. Carol Black, Chair CDAS & Site Steward.

11- 12    Toughing It Out at the Bailey:  The History, Conservation, Interpretation, and Continuing                                            Stewardship of the Bailey Earthen Structure.   Alan Schmidt, green builder, CDAS member, Site                                   Steward.

1 – 2      Archaeological Excavations at the Carrizo Stage Station; Uncovering the Heritage of the Southern                 Overland Trail: Stewardship means Understanding and Interpretation.  Sue Wade, Associate State                               Archeologist, Colorado Desert District.

2 – 3      Interpretation and Building the Base for Public Education: Interpretation Plays a Role in                                            Stewardship.  Roger Riolo, Anza Borrego Institute, Principal of InterpTrain, Inc.

3 – 4      Site Stewardship Forum:  Protecting and Preserving Significant Cultural Resources through a Site 

              Stewardship Monitoring Program.  By Archaeologist, Bonnie Bruce - Site Stewardship Coordinator for the   

              Colorado Desert District and a panel of Site Steward Volunteers.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Events

9 – 12      Native American Basket and Pottery Display and Demonstrations.  (Craft items for sale)

9:30 -12   Tours of the Archaeology Lab.

               Groups depart Visitor Center front door approximately every half hour    

10 - 12     Pottery Making Demonstration - Includes clay grinding and paddle & anvil construction techniques.

               By: Archaeology Volunteer Carol Black.  (Clay will be available for spectator participation)

Lectures

10-11     Twenty Years of Community Stewardship:  The Imperial Valley Desert Museum.

               Jessica Brody, Assistant Director, Imperial Valley Desert Museum, Ocotillo, California.

11-12      From a Ranger’s Point of View:  Working Together Towards Stewardship of ABDSP Cultural                                      Resources.  Ranger Steve Bier, Colorado Desert District.

Field Trips                                

1- 5:00    Hike to the Carrizo Stage Station: Join State Park Archaeologist, Sue Wade, for an adventurous hike to the site  

               of the historic Carrizo Stage Station, an Isolated Frontier Outpost in the Colorado Desert. Carrizo functioned as a  

               military supply depot and water stop during the mass emigrations and military expeditions of the late 1840s, was  

               the site of the first reliable water stop west of the Colorado River for the First Transcontinental Mail Link (the San  

               Antonio & San Diego Mail) and the Butterfield Mail, and was a supply stop for the California Column during the  

               Civil War, and continued as a way stop for cattle drives into the late nineteenth century.  The site was investigated  

               by California State Parks archaeologists in 2000 and is the subject of the newly published California State Parks  

               Publications in Cultural Heritage, Volume 29. The hikers will be the first visitor group to see the newly placed 

               replication of the stage station adobe walls on the exact footprint of the original station as revealed during the  

               2000 excavations. (2.5 hour interpretive field program)

              For both of these field trips, you can car pool from the back parking lot of the Visitor Center at 1:00 PM or  

               you may meet at the equestrian parking area on Hwy S-2 near mile marker #34 at 2:00 PM.

     

1- 4:00    Hike to the Bailey Cabin in the Hawi-Vallecito Cultural Preserve: Take a guided stroll back to the romantic,

               but rugged, era of Borrego beginnings. Take away the cows and the cowboys and you have the Vallecito Ranch,  

               as it remains today. This trip will put you in touch with its past. It is a little visited, beautiful piece of recently

               acquired park land with a long history of human habitation.  Your destination is the Olin Bailey Cabin for a close

               up view of unique puddle adobe construction. Mr. Bailey used several different techniques and local materials in

               erecting his sturdy desert home. The three mile round trip takes you through the north eastern portion of the Hawi

               Vallecito Cultural Preserve. Along the way you will pass what was once a productive melon field, some cow bird

               traps, beautiful old mesquite groves, and a lonely standing corral; complete with an intact loading chute. Enjoy the

               sights, sounds, smells, and stories of this place with a magical past with your host and guide CDAS volunteer,

               Alan Schmidt. (2 hour interpretive field program)     

 

             Pre-registration and $5.00 fee required for both the Carrizo Stage Station & Bailey Cabin field trips.   For detailed  

             information and reservations call ABF at 760/767-4063. During Archaeology Weekend: Check for last-minute field trip

             openings at the ABF table in front of the Visitor's Center.  Wear hiking shoes and bring hat and water.

Gourd Art Class

Gourd art made by today's class

Today we had 18 people come to attend a class on making gourd art, taught by the amazing artist Gloria Crane.  Gloria talked about the different ways to use and decorate gourds and then the class got down to business.

Painting gourds and learning to stitch colored string, beads, and silver ornaments into their designs took the class all day, but everyone agreed it was well worth it!

"I learned a lot about art and about myself" one student told Gloria.  Thanks to Museum Board member and volunteer Greg Curran, who set up the event with Gloria, and organized and advertised the class.

Today's artists with their gourds

Gloria Crane is a professional artist who brought several of her pieces as inspiration for the class today. We were lucky enough to have her agree to leave some of her gourds and platters for us to sell on consignment in the Museum gift shop.  

Gloria's consignment pieces