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$4,000,000 for the Arizona Historical Society

Thursday, May 24th, 2012


from Senate Bill 1523, Second Regular Session, 2012:

 Sec. 46. ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY  2012-13

 FTE positions 51.9

 Operating lump sum appropriation $ 2,031,100

 Arizona experience museum 441,400

Field services and grants 65,000

 Papago park museum 1,613,600

Total appropriation - Arizona historical society $ 4,151,100

Fund sources: State general fund $ 4,151,100

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Who is directing the Arizona Historical Society?

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012


On May 7th, 2012, the guest speaker at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society was Madison Barkley, newly hired curator for the AHS 5C Arizona Centennial Museum (AKA Arizona Experience Museum). Madison told the TGMS that there is no funding for building the centennial museum and no schedule for its completion.

On April 17, 2012, the AHS board of directors met at the Marley Center Museum in Tempe. Madison Barkley was present at the board meeting, but was not asked to participate.  In fact, not one...

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Free rent for the Arizona Historical Society

Sunday, May 13th, 2012


As reported in the original June 5th, 2010 post on this blog, the Governor’s office claimed the top rated Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum was eliminated because of rent.  Although museum operations and K-12 education programs were self-supporting, the museum did not generate enough revenue to pay the artificially inflated rent on the state owned building.

The Arizona Historical Society’s Marley Center Museum in Tempe (AKA the History Museum at Papago Park) is over four times the size o...

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The fatal flaw in the Arizona Experience Museum plan

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012


The Arizona Experience Museum was to be a high dollar, highly interactive museum, depending on digital displays and simulations to enhance education. It displaced a top rated, low cost museum that displayed real historic artifacts and real geological and mineral specimens.

A recent study showed that replacing real objects with simulations is a very big mistake. Four American History teachers from two high schools in Mesa, Arizona participated in the study. They assisted in the development of a le...

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Fixing the Arizona Experience Museum Mess

Saturday, April 21st, 2012


For nearly two years, this blog has followed the awful mess caused by the seriously flawed 5 C Arizona Centennial Museum (AKA Arizona Experience Museum) project. That project, the “centerpiece” of the centennial celebration, failed miserably. It also destroyed an existing top rated and very historic museum in the process. 

Now, a newspaper editorial has presented a very constructive suggestion for fixing that mess. An editorial on page B6 of the April 21, 2012 Arizona Republic offers a s...

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A TALE OF TWO CENTENNIALS

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012


On a recent visit to New Mexico I discovered that 2012 was also their Centennial Year.  The contrast between the activities, enthusiasm and participation between New Mexico and Arizona was striking.

The first big difference was noticeable just driving into New Mexico.  It didn’t take long to notice the number of cars and other vehicles with the New Mexico centennial license plate proudly displayed.  They also had t-shirts with the license plate on them.  This was obviously p...

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Further subsidy for the Arizona Historical Society

Sunday, April 8th, 2012


In spite of a resume of failed projects, the Arizona Legislature continues to divert tax dollars to the Arizona Historical Society.  Some are clearly visible, such as those in the multimillion dollar annual budget appropriations. Some are hidden, such as proceeds from the sale of centennial license plates. An accountant would have difficulty determining the total tax burden caused by the AHS.

The latest indirect subsidy is partial relief from rent for state owned buildings.  Twelve memb...

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Empty Green Building

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012


Arizona Department of Commerce - Energy Office

Solar Photovoltaic @ the Arizona Experience

1502 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ

Date Funded: 07/01/10 Senior Project Manager: Janet Collegio

General Manager: Roger Berna

Budget: $356,636.00

Budget Source: ARRA Index No. 21605

Architect/Engineer: Sky Engineering, Inc.

Contractor: Sky Engineering, Inc.

Notice to Proceed: 02/01/11

Completion: 01/30/12 (100 Percent Complete)

Project Description

Design and install a Photovoltaic System on the Arizona Experience (previou...

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Legislature approved inefficiency and redundancy

Friday, March 30th, 2012
http://www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org/) currently includes the following:

Passport to Geology: Minerals from Around the World

In this one-hour adventure, Curator of Mineralogy Dr. Madison Barkley will showcase some incredible mineral and rock specimens from all over the world, and you will be able to view them right here in Arizona.

Free with $5 general museum admission.

Saturday April 21, 2012

10:30 am – 12:00 pm   949 E. 2nd St. Tucson AZ 85719

Comments:

The Tucson area is already serve...

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Rewriting Arizona history?

Saturday, March 24th, 2012

The previous post discussed a scheduled Centennial Conference presentation that included the Arizona Experience Museum (AKA the Arizona Centennial Museum). A year ago that museum was being billed as the “centerpiece of the centennial celebration” and as the “number one signature project." Now, that presentation has suddenly vanished from the program.  Apparently, the centennial conference will ignore the “centerpiece”.

Also gone is a presentation about mining:

FROM THE GROUND UP, Vi...

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Arizona Centennial Conference to discuss Arizona Experience Museum fiasco

Friday, March 23rd, 2012


The Arizona Centennial Conference is being held at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix on April 18, 2012 through April 22, 2012. According to the agenda (http://www.arizonacentennial.org/):

Featured are more than 54 presentations by locally and nationally recognized speakers on topics pertaining to Arizona’s rich history. On-site and off-site personal development workshops, poster sessions, historic tours and a dedicated exhibit area for vendors are included.  ---- and the M...

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Virtual museum replaces real thing?

Thursday, March 15th, 2012


An Arizona Republic news article about the Arizona Experience website includes the following three paragraphs:

The virtual museum is an alternative to the shuttered Mining and Minerals Museum in downtown Phoenix, which closed in April.

The virtual mineral-education museum aims to compensate for the Mining and Minerals Museum, which closed amid budget cuts. But those fond of the museum said the website is a poor substitute for the actual building, which was visited by about 25,000 school children a...

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Arizona Experience Museum mess keeps growing

Monday, March 5th, 2012


The failed 5C Arizona Centennial Museum morphed in the Arizona Experience Museum.  The failed Arizona Experience Museum then morphed into www.arizonaexperience.org, which supposedly would have been the museums website if there had been such a museum. As a result, we now have:

  • The Arizona Historical Society diverted from preserving Arizona history.  It is now busy, using tax dollars, forecasting the future and supposedly developing science education programs. 
  • Arizona Geological Sur...

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WHY THE 5C ARIZONA CENTENNIAL MUSEUM FAILED

Friday, February 24th, 2012
Guest post by an anonymous contributor:

The Arizona centennial is now history and there is no centennial museum celebrating Arizona history. Why did the grand plan for the $15 million “centerpiece” of the centennial celebration” fail?

Perhaps because the plan was not really so grand?

In fact, it was not even any good.

The flaws become obvious when the loosely defined plan is compared to recommended practice for establishing a new museum.  In the following paragraphs, ten key points for cr...

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Half million dollar state budget for nonexistent museum?

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

The FY 2013 state budget includes some completely inexcusable pork.  The executive Budget (page 106) includes $626,900 for the AHS to operate the Arizona Centennial Museum. Senate Bill 1543 (Section 46) includes $441,400, as does House Bill 2852. House and senate bills both identify the nonexistent museum as the Arizona Experience Museum, even though the change from centennial museum to experience museum was never authorized by the legislature.

Does the Arizona legislature think they are bei...

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Is the Arizona Centennial Museum obsolete?

Monday, February 20th, 2012


Now,  http://www.arizonaexperience.org/  states the following:

To commemorate the once-in-a-lifetime event of Arizona’s hundredth birthday, the Governor and Arizona Historical Society envisioned a museum that would capture the state’s history, celebrate its people, and embrace its future. Working with world-renowned museum designers, Gallagher and Associates, the AHS began to seek ideas from across Arizona to create plans for a true journey of discovery. The museum would feature of ...

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ABC 15 investigates centennial museum mess

Monday, February 13th, 2012

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/abc15-investigates-why-did-governor-brewer-close-arizonas-mining-and-mineral-museum

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Centennial boondoggle exposed!

Friday, February 10th, 2012
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/about_us/news_releases/why-brewers-centennial-project-months-behind-millions-short

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Elected leaders insult donors and volunteers

Friday, February 10th, 2012


The January 30th post (A plea to save Arizona history) told the story of one family that donated a major historical artifact. The story of another such family follows:

-------------------------------------------------------
In 1958 my Father Lawrence (Shorty) Tozier decided to move to Sedona, Arizona.  He had lived most of his life in Southern California.  My grandfather had made the trip from Bangor,  Maine to Long Beach, California by Model T Ford in 1917-18.  By the 1950s my...

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Mining deleted from Arizona story

Thursday, February 9th, 2012


In reading the schedule of "Storytellers" for the Arizona Best Fest this weekend, I didn't see any mention of anyone telling a story about mining in Arizona ("A stage of storytellers," Tuesday).

There were miners here, building this state, long before there were rock stars, winemakers, Intel and most of the others who will be telling their stories.

Read more:http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/02/09/20120209-storytellers-leaves-out-mining.html#ixzz1ltfn3kg1

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