Why did the AHS celebrate its centennial in 1984?
( ) It took the AHS so long to plan for the
centennial that it celebrated its centennial 20 years late.
( ) It took 20 years longer than expected to
raise the necessary funds.
( ) The AHS was actually founded in 1884, not in
1864 as it currently claims.
( ) No one was paying attention and they missed
it.
( ) It took members 20 years to agree on a venue
for the celebration.
Here is another question. Why did Ann Woosley come up with this fantasy of the 1864 date? What was her source for this? She is a Phd. in history and archaeology she must be able to do proper research.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly the AHS published a history book on the history of the Arizona Historical Society about 1984. It was written by Dr. C. L. Sonnichsen who was the head of their publications dept. I looked him up and he has a lot of very important books on Western history. I would suggest all of the readers on this blog as well as the current AHS Board to look up the publishing record of his body of work.
ReplyDeleteThen look up the publishing record of Dr. Ann Woosley.
As far as I can find out Dr. Ann Woosley has written on small photo book on Tucson! It was done by Arcadia Press. They publish softcover photo books on towns. Their publishing list includes about 12,000 titles! Pretty common. Nice to look at if you are from that town or a tourist....serious scholarship for a Phd who gets paid $120,000 to be a director of a history museum. No way.
ReplyDeleteSo why would someone change the date of the founding of the agency/organization? Does it make the agency more important? Unless that person had a load of documentation it would be very dangerous to lie about something like that.
DeleteThe incorrect claim is very puzzling since an AHS publication associated with the AHS centennial has the correct date. Is this a foolish misrepresentation, or an indication of total dysfunction?
DeleteYou never see any other State agency trip over itself like this. When was the last time you saw the Highway Dept, Dept. of Public Safety, etc do dumb stuff like this. The AHS has cost the taxpayers so much in dumb tricks, Rio Nuevo, Centennial Museum etc. And all while a grand total of 3,000 visitors see the Papago Park Museum. Pathetic.
DeleteAnd Dr. Ann Woosley makes a salary of $120,000 of taxpayers money and she fabricates history of the founding of her own agency?
ReplyDeleteDr. Sonnischsen is spinning in his grave,
ReplyDeleteIf Dr. Ann Woosley fabricated this fairy tale of the 1864 date of the establishment of the AHS then you would think the AHS Board of Directors would want an answer from her?
ReplyDeleteIf it is true and Dr. Sonnichsen was wrong then have her show her evidence.
if she is wrong then is she just that bad of a historian or why did she lie about this. She is the director of a state agency that deals with the correct history on the state.
If she is not telling the truth or can't do research then she should be fired by the Board of Directors.
The Sonnischen book is consistent with material published by the Prescott Historical Society about the FIRST AHS which had no connection to the the present day AHS. It is astonishing that a historical society could get this wrong.
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