5
Just wanted to make sure any railfans, railroad history buffs, and Fred Harvey or Harvey Girl fanatics in Omaha know I’ll be speaking there tomorrow evening–with a reception starting at 6:30 and my lecture, with never-before-seen photos, begins at 7:15.
The cost is $8, and the new paperback version of my biography of Harvey, Appetite for America, will be available for sale. I’ll be happy to autograph copies for holiday gift-giving.
This all takes place at:
Temple Israel
7023 Cass Street
Omaha, NE 68132
Call 402-556-6536 for information.
This is part of the Omaha Jewish Book Festival and is my final talk for 2011 about Fred Harvey. Hope to see you there.
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Couldn’t resist posting this photo of the ever-engaging J. Stewart Harvey, Jr., which arrived in my email box with the caption “Me. The oldest Harvey alive. FYI. Or Not.”
22
Check out these recipes from Fred Harvey chefs for Thanksgiving treats including the Pumpkin Pudding, Baby Turkey Al’bufera, Corn Cakes and Apple Horseradish. All in the Fred Harvey Cooks Test Kitchen!
19
Just got my new catalog from the Chile Shop in Santa Fe–which is the place where many people are first introduced to Mary Colter’s classic Mimbreno China pattern (which is also on sale at the gift shops at La Posada and El Tovar and at the California State Railroad Museum–all in copies made by Pipestone.) Anyway, for those of you who have been buying the burgundy colored pieces over the years, apparently the manufacturer is about to change the color to a redder red. They will discontinue the burgundy, so if you need to finish your set, you might want to think about doing it soon.
Or you can do what Black Bart and I plan to do–following the decision they made in the El Tovar dining room–and instead use the black Mimbreno.
11
Sorry to have been so quiet on the blog (although you can always find me posting more frequently on my facebook author page which I encourage you to join.) Just wanted to let you know of all the Fred news and new Fred-folks I encountered in my travels to promote the new paperback of Appetite for America.
First we were in Kansas, where Fred was recently named by the governor as one of the 25 most influential Kansans ever. We spent a few days in Dodge City, which is sort of the capital of Western Kansas and is making a play to be a bigger part of the Fredisphere–as it was during Fred’s own life (of all the Harvey cities, Fred spent more time in Dodge than almost anywhere else because he had family there, and his cattle ranch was near there.) Anyway, the restored El Vaquero–which has had a new station and dinner theater for several years–is now trying to expand into more Harvey history, restoring the first of several upstairs hotel rooms and looking into doing more Fred history at the depot and in other places in the city. (I met with a lot of folks from various institutions, who are interested in upgrading and updating the way visitors experience the town’s history.)
The main person in charge of all this–and you should add her to your growing list of Harvey Heritage contacts, is Barbara Straight, president of the Depot Theater Guild (who I predict will lead an effort soon to create a Dodge City Historical Society, because they need one.) She and Sandie Olson from the Waynoka Harvey House are developing a sister-institution relationship, because both of them would like to see folks continue their Tours de Fred east of Las Vegas and keep going to Dodge and/or Waynoka (which I recommend.)
The El Vaquero also hired a new chef, Kim Smith, who served many different Harvey dishes during the two meals we had there. They don’t have a full-time restaurant yet–he just cooks for the theater and special events–but the food is great, and we’ll soon post some of his recipes.
In Topeka, I also had a chance to finally meet the executive director of the Kansas State Historical Society, Jennie Chin, who said she has been a devoted Fredhead for some time and would love to see the museum do more Harvey-related programming.
Then Black Bart and I returned to the Southwest. In Albuquerque–where I spoke at a huge Jewish Book festival event–I met the local Harvey Girls group, which is the only one in the country (that I know of) which is officially affiliated with the BNSF. Its director is Darlene Rice. While Albuquerque doesn’t have an official Harvey building anymore–the Alvarado was torn down–it does have a new substitute: the stunning Hotel Parq Central which is a delicious rehab of the old Santa Fe RR employee hospital and a marvelous boutique hotel.
From Albuquerque I made a quick detour to LA, to speak at the San Gabriel and Pomona Valley Jewish Book Festival, where I met some local ATSF model railroaders but was also pleased to see one of the founders of the Harvey Girl historical group in Orange Empire Railway Museum. She informed me that her little group is about to become much larger and more ambitious, because a museum benefactor gave them $100,000 to broaden their efforts. I’m hoping this means they will make a big move to do a great online resource so the families of Harvey Girls can post photos, history and contact information, and maybe they can start collecting for a real Harvey Girl museum in California.
We then went to Southern New Mexico, to booming Las Cruces, which never had its own Harvey House (the closest was Deming–Fred’s most-robbed location) but enjoys its Harvey history at the local railroad museum. For those interested in a Harvey contact there, Garland Courts, the museum director, was our gracious host.
Perhaps our biggest and most pleasant surprise is that El Paso, TX has a thriving Harvey Girls group, run by the indefatigable Pres Dehrkoop and a great interest in its Harvey history, based at the lovingly restored Union Station (run by FH from the early 1900s until 1948) and its gem of a railroad museum, run by trainiac Prince McKenzie.
Meeting Pres and her El Paso Harvey Girls, and TK and her Albuquerque HGs just reminds me it’s time for a truly national Harvey Girl convention and reunion. Perhaps next year in Kansas City, when the National Archives does its show on Harvey Girls!
Well, that’s my update. Now, all you old and new Fredheads, talk amongst yourselves!
17
Please check out my facebook author page for details of my promotional tour through the Southwest, October 23-November 1
10/23: Albuquerque Jewish Book Festival
10/28: book signing Collected Works, Santa Fe
10/31: talk and book signing, Las Cruces Railroad Museum
11/1: talk and book signing, El Paso, TX
Hope to see you there, while I’m out spreading the Fred!
17
Something new from the Fred Harvey Cookbook Project–we’ve opened a “FredHarveyCooks Test Kitchen,” run by my intern Nina Wolpow, which every Monday will feature a test run through a Harvey recipe, with photos, commentary and suggestions on how to modernize or play with it. Here’s the first one! Read it, try it, post your own suggestions. Fred Harvey Cooks!
27
My head is still reeling from my 24-hour visit to Dodge City (literally reeling, the pollen count in Kansas is, I believe, infinity). I gave two talks at the fully restored Fred Harvey El Vaquero Hotel building–complete with Fred Harvey meals served by the wonderful new chef there (we’ll be posting his recipes on the Fred Harvey Cookbook Project site.) Everyone there was incredibly nice to Black Bart and I (the highlight for her–her placecard read “Black Bart”), the food was amazing, and I was even made an honorary marshall (and have the badge to prove it.
And it sounds like Dodge City really has some ideas about exploring its Fred Harvey heritage more. They’re going to restore a guest room at the El Vaquero to look authentic (I’ll be interested to see which time period they choose, the hotel was run by Fred Harvey from 1896 to 1948). And they’ve decided to “sister” with the other nearby Harvey House, in Waynoka, OK. Both locations are, at the moment, still off the beaten FH trail in Arizona and New Mexico, but we’re hoping that changes, and more people continue east from Santa Fe, checking out the Harvey properties in Las Vegas, NM and continuing to Waynoka and Dodge City–a longer but ultimately more satisfying “Tour De Fred.”
Anyway, here are some shots from our stay in Dodge. thanks again to everyone who brought us there, and please get us the hell back into Dodge soon.
26
New DVD release of priceless archival western films–Treasures 5: The West, 1898-1938
26
Nice big academic review of Appetite for America in “Reviews in American History”: “the research is priceless and the writing eloquent … a work that will find its way to the bookshelves of scholars of the Western U.S. as well as historians interested in American business, social, cultural, culinary, and tourist history … [and] will most likely find its most comfortable home on the shelves of foodies, who will be entertained by Fried’s engaging narrative.”
17
In fewer than 24 hours in DC, I had the rare pleasure of speaking to the regular Tuesday Colloquium of curators at the Smithsonian Museum of American History (joined by colleagues from the new Museum of the American Indian), and then a terrific public event at the National Archive, as part of the their incredibly popular show, “What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam.” My goal–besides meeting Fredheads and signing books–was to help people at the Smithsonian and National Archives understand that the Fred Harvey story is now very much a living, growing history, worthy of their curatorial attention.
The Fred Harvey story–a wonderful prism through which to see and understand the American West, Native American art and artistic commerce, the rise of the American service industry, foodie culture and the hospitality industry–was once considered a pretty static, almost cartoonish saga for which most of the pertinent details (and artifacts) had been lost to time. The museum show at the Heard in Phoenix in 1996 was considered its first and maybe last hurrah, the restored hotel and restaurant at La Posada in Winslow its only new shrine to the original heroes of Fred Harvey company (Fred and Ford Harvey, Dave Benjamin, Herman Schweizer, Mary Colter and others.)
But I think people all over the country are starting to realize that Harvey history is alive again, and what I did with the research and writing of Appetite for America is only the beginning. Not only are we now able to see the known major collections in Phoenix, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Winslow, Tucson, Santa Fe, Topeka, Waynoka, Dodge City, Florence, Kansas City, Leavenworth, Chicago, and others with fresh eyes, but we’re finding new collections all the time–everything from “new” diaries of some of the earliest Harvey Girls to, a large donation of Indian jewelry and artifacts from Kitty Harvey’s home, which we just found in the Smithsonian’s holdings (almost by accident, after QVC started marketing a ring copied from one in the Smithsonian collection, which belonged to Fred’s daughter Marie Harvey Hall.)
Let’s try to encourage museums that might be interested in a big Fred-related show to get one going while there are still living Harvey Girls, and Harvey family members who worked in the business and knew the main characters of the Fred Harvey story.
Keep spreading the Fred. I know I will.
17
Looking forward to returning to Fred Harvey’s home state, Kansas–where the governor just named him one of the 25 most important Kansans in history, and where Appetite for America is being honored as one of the Kansas Notable Books of the Year. Hope to see you at one of these events:
9/21: Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, 7:00 PM
9/22: Dodge City, Depot Theater (in the beautifully restored Fred Harvey El Vaquero hotel), dinner/lecture/booksigning, with reception beginning at 6:30
9/23: Dodge City, special presentation and book signing for Santa Fe Trail Association convention, 8:30 am at the Magouirk Conference Center. brunch presentation and signing, 10:30 am
9/24: Topeka, Kansas Book Festival; noon, Kansas Notable Book Awards ceremony and signing; 3:00 pm, I’m on a panel, “Figures in Kansas History” in the Museum Classroom #3 with Beverly Buller and Cynthia Harris.
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The Smithsonian has licensed a ring currently being sold on QVC that is a replica of one originally owned by Marie Harvey Hall, Fred’s daughter. She purchased it at the Grand Canyon in 1910–presumably at Hopi House–and left it to her niece (and Fred’s only granddaughter) Kitty Harvey. At Kitty’s death in 1962, it was donated to what is now the Museum of the American Indian.
Since we weren’t aware of this donation, we’ve asked the Smithsonian (where I’m speaking to curators on Tuesday afternoon) to see what else they have from Kitty’s bequest. Someday, who knows, there could be an entire collection of Fred Harvey-inspired jewelry from the Smithsonian (and I could be on QVC hawking it with Daggett Harvey, Jr. Stewart Harvey and Helen Harvey Mills.)
Here is the original ring (and pic of Daggett and I from the Chicago club last spring; he’s the one holding the original FH gong):
9
Check out this really moving tribute to Ruby McHood, one of the last living Harvey Girls from the company’s golden age, who died in Winslow. It was written by her daughter.
She was captured in Tina Mion’s wonderful painting The Last Harvey Girl. That’s Ruby in the forefront, offering a cup of tea.
