This is the playlist for the videos we made of the lectures at the Fred Harvey History Weekend. They are all here except Tina Mion’s (because, for the moment, she has asked us not to post hers—but we have it and hope she’ll change her mind.) There are individual cuts of each talk, plus one large file of the entire first day.

Please feel free to share these widely, as a playlist or individually.

Day One:

Opening session (Billy G. Garrett welcome, Stephen Fried intro talk)

Mary Colter at 150 (Arnold Berke, Barbara Felix, Billy G. Garrett)

Julian Harvey and “The Magic Train”

Caroline Fernald: “Commercialization or Cultural Preservation?”

Kay Lauster: “Original Farm to Table: Fred Harvey AZ Farms”

Complete Day One

Day Two:

Barbara and Cavan Gonzales Pottery Demonstration

“Harvey Houses Reborn” (Cedd Moses, Matt McTigue, Sean Sinclair, Murphy O’Brien)

more to come, but let’s get started—thanks to everyone who attended and took photos!

10/24/19 George Washington Book Prize Dinner, Union League Club, New York

11/6/19 Midtown Scholar Book Store, Harrisburg, PA 7:00 PM

11/17 Mission Viejo California, Norman P. Murray Community Center, 3:00 PM

11/20 Weill Cornell Richardson History of Psychiatry Lecture 2:00 PM

11/21 Princeton University James Madison Program in American Ideals & Institutions 4:30 PM

12/12 Thomas Jefferson University Medical School, Philadelphia, Grand Rounds, DePalma Auditorium 12:00 PM

Facebook author calendar

October 25-28, 2019 in Santa Fe, Lamy and Las Vegas, New Mexico!

www.museumfoundation.org/fred-harvey-weekend/

OUR TENTH ANNIVERSARY! 

The weekend begins with two days of engaging talks at the New Mexico History Museum.

Lectures are free but seating is limited, RSVP to fredharveybook@gmail.com

Friday October 25

12:30 PM: Greeting from interim director Billy G. Garrett

12:40-1:15: “State of the Fred Harvey Union: FH basics for newbies, and an update on what’s new in the Fredisphere” with Stephen Fried

1:20 “Mary Colter at 150” a lively panel discussion with Mary Colter biographer Arnold Berke, Colter restoration designer Barbara Felix and Billy G. Garret (former history architect at Grand Canyon National Park) to commemorate the 150^th birthday of Fred Harvey design guru

2:20 “The Magic Train,” debut of a new piece of music by award-winning composer (and Fred Harvey great-grandson) Julian Harvey, followed by a Q&A with Harvey about the role of music at Fred Harvey, and his recollections of growing up around the company

3:05: break

3:20: “Commercialization or Cultural Preservation? An intriguing new view of Southwest ethnography & the relationship between American Indians, Fred Harvey & the Santa Fe Railway” by Dr. Caroline Fernald, executive director, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology (former director Millicent Rogers Museum)

4:15: “Original Farm to Table: The Arizona Fred Harvey Farms (including the last, endangered one)” by Kay Lauster, president, Chino Valley Historical Society

Saturday October 26

1:00 PM: “The Legacy of Maria Martinez & Fred Harvey,” a special lecture and pottery demonstration by Maria Martinez’s artistic descendants: great-granddaughter Barbara Gonzalez and great-great grandson Cavan Gonzalez from San Ildefonso Pueblo

2:30: break

2:45 “Tina Mion, Living with Ghosts,” painter Tina Mion—co-owner of two restored Harvey hotels, La Posada in Winslow and Castaneda in Las Vegas–on living in (and saving) Harvey hotels and making inspired art in them

3:45 “Harvey Houses Reborn: Saving Fred’s Restaurant Spaces, Reinventing His Food” panel discussion with Cedd Moses, Los Angeles hospitality entrepreneur who recently reopened Mary Colter’s restaurant space in LA Union Station; Sean Sinclair, beloved Santa Fe chef who just took over the restaurant and bar at Castaneda Hotel in Las Vegas; Matt McTigue, executive chef at El Tovar on Grand Canyon South Rim; Murphy O’Brien, who recently took over Legal Tender in Lamy and Matt DiGregory, Range Café at the Plaza.

4:30 questions and wrap-up

Saturday night 10/26 is the Fred Harvey Foodie Dinner at La Fonda–a benefit for the New Mexico History Museum with classic Harvey dishes reinterpreted by guest chefs

 $150 PER PERSON

RSVP: https://lensic.org/events/fred-harvey-foodie-dinner/

Diners receive boxed set of Mimbreno China ramekins designed by Mary Colter (reproduced by HF Coors) & print of “The Last Harvey Girl” by Tina Mion.

Our menu and guest chefs:

• Hors d’ouevres: Baked Oysters Theodore with Crab Veloute, Swiss Cheese & Lemon; Deviled Eggs w/Mustard Pickles; Mushrooms Stuffed with Braised Shortribs, Parmesan and Tomato Sauce (Lane Warner, La Fonda)
• Food demonstration: Harvey Girl Little Orange Pancakes with Smoked Salmon & Caviar (Chef & MC JohnnyVee, Las Cosas Cooking School )
• Signature Cocktails: The Harvey, The Harvey Girl (Sean Sinclair & Andrew Szeman, Bar Castaneda)
• Soup: Albondigas a la Castaneda with Clever Garnish (Jason Stewart, Inn at Loretto)
• Salad: Alligator Pear (Avocado) Salad with Secret Vinaigrette (Erin Wade & Avery Pearson, Vinaigrette)
• Main Course: Mescalero Apache Prime Angus Strip Steak Diane with Winter Squash & Red Chard Ragout, and Crispy Shitake Mushrooms (Peter O’Brien, Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi)
• Dessert: Pecan Sponge Cake with Cranberry Sherbet (Heather Guay, Los Poblanos Historic Inn)

Saturday morning 10/26 brunch at the newly reopened Legal Tender in Lamy, NM 10:30 AM, brunch is $40/person. RSVP to: 505-466-1650 or legaltenderlamy@gmail.com  SOLD OUT

Sunday 10/27 the Fred Harvey History Weekend moves to Las Vegas, New Mexico

To celebrate the revival of the Castañeda Hotel

At 1:30 P.M. owners Allan Affeldt & Tina Mion will discuss the restoration and give a tour.

At 3:00 the nearby Mayeur Projects Gallery (200 Plaza Park) will debut “Midnight Muse” –

a big new show of Tina Mion paintings. Reception is free and open to the public.

Sunday night 10/27 dinner at the Castañeda; cocktails at 6:30 PM. Dinner is $75/person. RSVP to: katey@kinlvnm.com 

SOLD OUT

Monday morning 10/28 a special Harvey breakfast at Castaneda, $25/person 7:00 – 10:00 A.M.

All Weekend in Las Vegas: Optional tours of Montezuma Hotel & other Las Vegas sites: Southwest Detours (505) 459-6987

CBS Sunday Morning did a wonderful segment on the revival of interest in The Harvey Girls and Fred Harvey on 2/24/19.

You can watch it here. And you can read the article CBS posted about it here.

Timed for the Oscars, the segment was filmed at the November 2018 #FredHarveyHistoryWeekend in Santa Fe and Las Vegas, New Mexico.

This annual event began with the publication of my Fred Harvey biography Appetite for America in the spring of 2010. It has grown from a one-hour lecture at the New Mexico History Museum followed by a Harvey-themed dinner at La Fonda on the Plaza to an entire weekend of lectures by a wide variety of experts and Harvey family members, and three different Harvey-themed meals in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and most recently, Lamy, NM (all original Fred Harvey/Santa Fe RR locations.) Its growth has been driven by rising interest in all things Fred Harvey, Harvey Girls, Santa Fe railroad and Harvey design guru Mary Colter–as well as the restoration of La Fonda to many of Colter’s original interior designs (by board chairman Jenny Kimball and architect Barbara Felix), the curation and installation of the first permanent Harvey History exhibit at the New Mexico History Museum (first envisioned by founding director Fran Levine and executed by then-curator Meredith Davidson Schweitzer) and then the  purchase and ongoing restoration of the first major Harvey SW resort, the Castaneda Hotel in Las Vegas, by history travel entrepreneurs Allan Affeldt and Tina Mion (who, starting in the 1990s, saved the Harvey hotel in Winslow, AZ, La Posada.)

The Castaneda had not functioned as a Harvey property since the late 1940s; its grand re-opening is scheduled for 2019.

Here are some shots of us and the CBS team, correspondent Michelle Miller and producer Mary Lou Teel during the Fred Harvey Foodie Dinner at La Fonda and other events they filmed during the weekend.

For information on the 2019 Fred Harvey History Weekend, October 25-27, go to http://www.stephenfried.com/blog/?p=2103 or sign up for the mailing list at fredharveybook@gmail.com.

May Fred be with you.

Save the dates for the next FRED HARVEY HISTORY WEEKEND

October 25-27, 2019

in Santa Fe, NM and Las Vegas, NM

For more information, contact us at fredharveybook@gmail.com

There will be events at the New Mexico History Museum on October 25 and 26, and in Las Vegas, NM on October 27 at the Castaneda Hotel and Plaza Hotel.

There will also be three food events—including the big Fred Harvey Foodie Dinner at La Fonda, October 26, a fundraiser for the New Mexico History Museum.

Please join us! May Fred be with you!

“A welcome biography of a Founding Father…[who] became a prominent revolutionary and signer of the Declaration of Independence, then surgeon general of the Continental Army…renowned in the annals of American medicine as a pioneer of medical education and the treatment of the mentally ill….A complete portrait of a complex man…who excited attention and controversy in his day but then fell into the shadows. Fried does well to restore him to history.” —Kirkus

“The best books are full of surprises. Rush has more of them than any historical biography I have read in ages. It is vast and sumptuous and brings to life Founding Father Benjamin Rush in full technicolor. Too long ignored, Rush’s varied and mercurial brilliance puts him smack in the company of such figures as Adams and Jefferson and Washington and Hamilton with one exception: he is more interesting than any of them. He revolutionized medicine. He revolutionized healthcare. He revolutionized life. Fried draws it all out with his usual perfect pitch of reportage and writing. What a grand feast and feat.”  —Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights and A Prayer for the City

“Benjamin Rush is best known as the founding father the more famous founders wrote to. Stephen Fried, in this fascinating biography, shows us why we need to reconsider, and pay more attention to a man whose talents rivaled Franklin’s, opinions equaled Adams’s, and facility with language approached Jefferson’s.”—H.W. Brands, author of The First American and Heirs of the Founders

“Stephen Fried has written a gem of a book—the riveting story of a Founding Father who is too often forgotten. In this magnificent work, Benjamin Rush gets the biography he deserves, and readers get an expertly researched, splendidly written account of a brilliant, influential man and the times in which he lived.” —Jonathan Eig, author of Ali: A Life

“An engrossing exploration of a founding father whose life sheds new light on the American Revolution, as well as on the ongoing challenges of civil rights and mental healthcare in this country. I had no idea how much Rush helped to shape our young nation and how urgent his voice remains today. Anyone who cares about our past and future—politically, medically, spiritually—should read this masterful biography.” —Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, co-author of A Common Struggle

“An important and fascinating account of a relatively neglected yet critical Founding Father.  Benjamin Rush—Surgeon General of the Continental Army, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Jefferson’s choice for medical advisor to the Lewis and Clark Expedition—is also acknowledged as the father of American Psychiatry for his study and treatment of the mentally ill. Stephen Fried brings to life Rush’s extraordinary political and medical contributions, as well as the times in which he lived.” —Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind and Robert Lowell: Setting the River on Fire

https://www.facebook.com/events/408178529551156/

Heard Museum
2301 N Central Ave, Phoenix, Arizona 85004

In December 2014 I had a story in New Mexico Magazine about the Fredaissance in New Mexico, with a sidebar on how to tour the Harvey heritage spots in the state. Since the sidebar is a little tough to access online, here’s an easier version, with all the links.

NM’s Harvey Hot Spots

Since the late 1870s, there have been 15 different New Mexico cities and towns with Fred Harvey eateries, hotels, or newsstands. Many of the original buildings no longer exist—and in a few cases, like San Marcial, the towns themselves no longer exist. So you need to decide whether to visit only places where there is still something Fred to see, or do the entire circuit of original Harvey cities. The latter would be, in rough order of when they got Harvey outposts: Ratón, Las Vegas/Hot Springs, Lamy, Albuquerque, Wallace, San Marcial, Rincon, Deming, Las Vegas, Vaughn, Coolidge, Gallup, Las Cruces, Belén, and Santa Fe. That would be quite a drive.

The easiest and most accessible Harvey-themed trip is between Albuquerque and Las Vegas. Albuquerque was the Southwest’s 20th-century center of the Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railway, but lost its depot and Fred Harvey hotel buildings in 1972 and is still attempting to recover. The Albuquerque Museum has a small, permanent Harvey display—as part of its new “Only in Albuquerque” galleries—which includes artifact-stocked display cases from the Alvarado lunchroom and the Indian Building. There is also the ambitious and longawaited Wheels Transportation Museum project in the very cool old Albuquerque Rail Yards, which can be toured by appointment (505-243-6269); one day this could be the go-to trainiac and Fredhead spot in ABQ. Take a quick look at the Alvarado shaped downtown transportation center and the nearby Hotel Parq Central, wonderfully restored from the old Santa Fe Railway Hospital.

Many people, however, just start their Fred tour in Belén, 35 miles south of Albuquerque, which has the state’s oldest and most charming Harvey House Museum in its lovingly restored depot.

And then head on to Santa Fe. While there, be sure to tour, dine at, or stay at La Fonda Hotel on the Plaza (which almost qualifies as a museum). And do not miss Setting the Standard: The Fred Harvey Company and Its Legacy, the new permanent exhibit at the New Mexico History Museum—which features amazing Harvey Company memorabilia. The big public opening was December 7th, and there will be many Harvey-related special events all through 2015.

From Santa Fe you’ll be driving to Las Vegas, but call or e-mail ahead first. The front desk at the Historic Plaza Hotel (505-425- 3591) can help you arrange tours, some given by the new Las Vegas Harvey Girls, of the places you want to see: the restored Montezuma Hotel (now United World College); the ongoing restoration of the Castañeda Hotel (which is expected to reopen in 2016); and perhaps the Rough Rider Memorial Collection.

While in southern New Mexico, check out the Deming Luna Mimbres Museumand the Las Cruces Railroad Museum. Neither has huge Harvey holdings, but both have collections that would delight Fredheads. For more information about Fred Harvey history and culinary tourism, read my book Appetite for America—which has large appendices for car and train travel, Harvey recipes, and a complete listing of Harvey locations. Also see my Facebook author page and Harvey Girls Cookbook page. —S

Black Bart and I love the train, of course, but I’d suggest doing these trips by car (while supporting the efforts of the Amtrak Southwest Chief Coalition to keep the train route alive and well)

Here’s a link, which takes a bit of time to download, that allows you to watch my entire 10/29/14 lecture at the New Mexico History Museum. This was originally supposed to be a small library presentation for a couple dozen museum patrons, and ended up being moved to the auditorium because there were a few more RSVPs than usual. The day of the talk, more than 260 people showed up. The auditorium holds only 214, so more than 40 had to be turned away–and then we decided to do an encore of the talk the next week. Another 95 people attended. Three weeks later, for the grand opening of the new museum exhibit on Fred Harvey, “Setting the Standard,” I did another Fred talk (along with curator Meredith Davidson and filmmaker Katrina Parks), which drew a crowd of over 400. The talk was simulcast to a screen in the lobby where there were another several dozen chairs and then a standing room crowd behind them and watching from the balcony above.

There is no doubt that the Fredaissance has arrived, and Fredheads rule. We even have our own T-shirts and coffee mugs (available from the NMHM gift shop)!

Love this picture, taken 12/6/14 during an historic private visit to Las Vegas, NM by members of the Harvey family from around the world, some of the leading Fredheads who have kept the Harvey story (and the Harvey buildings) alive allowing the recent Fredaissance to take place, and the folks responsible for the new permanent exhibit on all this Fred at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe. A truly great day to be a Fredhead!

Pictures from the first of what I suspect will be many Fredhead weekends in Las Vegas, NM (early November 2014), with sold out events at the Historic Plaza Hotel and the soon-to-be-restored Hotel Castaneda, the first of the great Fred Harvey resorts in the SW!

Check out my most recent article about the revival of interest in Fred Harvey, the Harvey Girls, Mary Colter, the Santa Fe and all this Fredheady in this recent article in New Mexico Magazine:

YOUR FREDHEAD FALL SCHEDULE!

10/24 1 PM Phoenix:
Heard Museum Panel: The New Living History of Fred Harvey, the Santa Fe & the Great Southwest

10/25 Tempe
1st Annual ASU Food & Thought Speaker Series

10/29 Santa Fe
Chavez Library lunch talk: Fred Harvey, the Hotel Castaneda, and the Future of the Past of Railroad New Mexico

11/8-9 Las Vegas, NM
FredHead Weekend in LVNM, the Original Las Vegas

12/7 New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe
Grand Opening: “Setting the Standard” the new permanent Fred Harvey museum exhibit at NMHM

Also: through 1/31/2015 Taos
Fred Harvey and the Making of the American West

the ebook is discounted to $1.99 through sunday 6/29. don’t miss it!