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Chargement... Letters from Wupatkipar Courtney Reeder Jones
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When David and Courtney Reeder Jones moved into two rooms reached by ladder in a northern Arizona Indian ruin, they had been married only two weeks. Except for the ruin's cement floors, which were originally hardened mud, and skylights instead of smokeholes, the rooms were exactly as they had been 800 years before. The year was 1938, and the newlyweds had come to Wupatki National Monument as full-time National Park Service caretakers for the ruin. Remote in time and place, their story as described in Courtney's letters will take readers into a dramatic landscape of red rocks, purple volcanoes, and endless blue sky. Here, some 60 years ago, two young people came to terms with their new life together and with their nearly total reliance upon each other and their Navajo neighbors. "They helped us in any way that a neighbor would, and we helped them as we could," wrote Courtney in her memoirs years later. Vivid and engaging, her letters home spill over with descriptions of their friendship with local Navajo families, their sings and celebrations, and her good luck in being able to be a part of it all. Letters from Wupatki captures a more innocent era in southwestern archaeology and the history of the National Park Service before the post-war years brought paved roads, expanded park facilities, and ever-increasing crowds of visitors. Courtney's letters to her family and friends reflect all the charm of the earlier time as they convey the sense of rapid transition that came after the war. Tracking those changes in the development of Wupatki National Monument and the National Park Service, the letters also--and perhaps more important--reveal changes in the Joneses themselves. Of particular interest to anthropologists and historians, their story also gives the general reader captivating glimpses of a partnership between two people who only grew stronger for the struggles they shared together. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)979.133History and Geography North America Great Basin and West Coast U.S. Arizona Northern Arizona Coconino CountyClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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Jones and her husband were newlyweds when he became the "custodian" of Wupatki in 1938. They moved into a two-room apartment within the ruin itself. (Nothing like climbing a ten-foot ladder every time you enter and leave your apartment, eh?) Nebraska born and bred, Jones found Wupatki totally different from anything she'd ever known. Even though she had to wear a mask when she swept the floors because of all the dust, even though the trips into Flag over the horrendous dirt roads were bone wearying, she fell in love with Wupatki. The plum-colored cinder cones, the black volcanic sands, the intense reds of the sandstone cliffs, the brilliant wildflowers, the snowcapped San Francisco peaks, the abundant wildlife and her Navajo neighbors all enchanted her. (Can you tell I fell under Wupatki's spell myself?)
She helped her husband show the tourists around. She took photographs and wrote magazine articles. She catalogued flowers and collected scorpions. She learned how to weave rugs. She watched while her husband, CCC workers and other volunteers stabilized the ruins. Her letters tell of her daily life, her travels, what it was like in such a remote area during World War II, and what it was like living among the Navajo. The letters were fascinating and brought back my own mental snapshots of that remarkable landscape. ( )