Silver City Museum holds opening for Stories of Southwestern NM Women

Photos and Article by Mary Alice Murphy

Tracy Spikes, museum director, introduced the Beat to Louise Stiver, who served as the main curator of the exhibit. "She is a consultant of historical narratives," Spikes said of Stiver. "She sought out writers and historians for the exhibit."

"When I was approached to do the exhibit, I thought it was an interesting project," Stiver said. "When I agreed to do it, I went looking for writers. I've known Susan Berry and Toni Laumbach for a while. Then I did a cold call to Joan Jensen and Sherry Robinson to also write for the exhibit and they both said yes. It was great to collaborate with all of them by phone and online. Each writer had the freedom to seek out what they wanted to write about. Joan divided into census records, related to mining. Toni did the prehistoric period with her research into the Mimbres culture. Sherry wrote about the Apache and Berry about the American history of Silver City.

"I was the coordinator," Stiver said. "It was great to see how it all worked together and didn't overlap. It just came together."

She said Laumbach is the exhibit curator at the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces. Berry is the former Silver City Museum director. Stiver herself wrote about the Spanish aspects. Jenson works at New Mexico State University, and Robinson has written books and articles about the Apache culture.

John Frank, who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said they used to visit Jackie's father and sister in Silver City. "This was about 20 years ago, and finally we bought a winter house here (in Silver City) for us. Jackie did a lot of volunteer work, including at this museum. She was interested in women's history. She knew that wives bore an extensive responsibility for their husband's skills. Jackie had a master's degree in social work. I did think that I would not have done as well without her encouragement and support."

"Jackie took an interest in Anita Scott Coleman," John Frank said. "She studied her and her writing and gave presentations on her. When we were traveling, we would stop at a museum somewhere. She would dig up some women's history, and we might spend two or three or eight hours and even overnight sometimes. She had a lot of notes on different women, and after her death I gave them to this museum. I also arranged to give some money to get this exhibit going. I moved back to Michigan."

Spikes said the exhibit had been a long time coming. "It's come together since I met John Frank and enlisted the help of the local chapter of the American Association of University Women. Louise Stiver of the New Mexico History Museum took the lead in finding the other writers."

"Our collection is rich in the Territorial Period, but this exhibit was meant to touch different periods and get people to know the many places to tell many stories," Spikes said. "I thank Silver City for allowing me this five years of being director of this museum."

Spikes recently announced his decision to retire and go back to his home in Florida.

"I thank the staff and the volunteers," he said. "For this exhibit, I thank our curator Jackie Becker who did a lot of the curating of this exhibit. She helped get things on loan to tell these stories. This was all done by the staff and volunteers. I also thank the other members of Jackie Frank's family who are here for this opening."

Spikes said Susan Berry was unable to attend the opening, but sent a letter to be read. "She said: 'I am thrilled to be part of this exhibit in honor of our dedicated volunteer Jackie Frank and to share the voices of these women.'"

Spikes noted that the exhibit is only scratching the surface.

Phyllis McQuaide, president the Silver City Museum Society thanked the Frank family for making the exhibit possible with their donation.

Frank later told the Beat that his wife Jackie, with her social work background, had created a job for herself as a consultant for corporations that moved husbands around, but never thought to put some attention to the needs of the spouses and children. However, when he was transferred to a southern state he would not name, his wife had tried to re-establish her business as a family consultant, but was met with the comment: "It's the wife's job to follow the husband.' She couldn't do anything, so she did volunteer work."

"As her health was failing, she said she wanted to leave money to this museum," John Frank said. "She was passionate about digging up history of supportive wives."

Thanks to Jackie Frank's wish and her husband John's carry through, the Stories of Southwestern New Mexico Women is an exhibit in the main exhibit hall of the Silver City Museum. The exhibit runs through April 2017, with a lot of history to read about.