By Michael Wurtz

Only two and a half weeks have passed since the Indian Creek Fire rolled into our backyards and caused about 3 million dollars in damage. It seems too fresh to be considered "history," but it is fast becoming a piece of Prescott history. It will probably be just a matter of time before legends of Virgil Earp and gargoyles on the Hotel St. Michael are attached to it.

At the Sharlot Hall Museum we think in history terms all day long and we attempt to place each of these events in some sort of context. In these years of drought, and now the forest closings across Arizona, putting our fire in the context of the Southwest's high fire danger and dense populations living in area susceptible to fire is a fairly easy task. 

We do not just look at history. Like any of you, we also figured a quick inventory of our holdings and tried to decide what we would have done if a fire managed to make its way to the corner of Gurley and McCormick streets in downtown Prescott. In the archives (which is made up of entirely paper based information) a fire would leave Prescott without its primary history. The community would still have books that were saved since they were in other libraries, but a researcher could no longer find primary history of Prescott "before the fire." 

An impromptu meeting of staff came to the conclusion that it is better to protect what we have than imagine how we would remove all the material to another fire-safe location. After all, our largest and most valuable artifact from our collections is the Governor's Mansion. Built on its site, which is now the Museum grounds, in 1864, the Mansion could not quickly and easily be put on a flatbed and toted out to the new fairgrounds for safe keeping. 

In preparation for just these kinds of events we also have a comprehensive disaster plan for the Museum, so if there is a fire or flood we will have a systematic way to handle the problems that may occur. These plans are in place for most museums. Many disaster plans are mostly how to handle water damaged artifacts and documents. This is because all disasters will trip the sprinkler system. But as we say as archivists, I'd rather have a wet document than no document at all (which is what happens when it burns). There are many new technologies for stopping fires in the collections that do not use water, and we are investigating these methods, as well as looking for funding, so we can use them here. 

What should a Museum do in a time of community crisis? We document and interpret. Among our collections is 100,000 photographic images. These images show Yavapai County generally or specifically. Perhaps a photo of Barry Goldwater on the Courthouse steps announcing his candidacy for President, or an aerial view of a ranch far west of town (for all of our aerials visit www.sharlothallmuseum.org/archives/maps). We also have about 2,000,000 pages of paper that could be anything from diaries to certificates to business records or minutes. We even have about 4000 maps. This is your history! 

Now you can help the Sharlot Hall Museum document the Indian Creek Fire. At the risk of receiving literally 100s of photographs of slurry bombers and smoke filled skies, we are looking for something that would demonstrate what the fire means to Prescottonians. We receive the Courier, so coverage of the news aspect of the fire is done. I'm still trying to find a good map of the fire's extent (the city of Prescott had a very good map on their web site for a couple of days). If you had a close brush with the fire, did you write down your experiences? Did you journal your losses, or talk about what you lost as a "sense of place?" How about the scribbled list of items you wanted to rescue or save when you thought your house might be in the path. We are even interested in transcribed phone messages. In addition, if you have something that burned in the fire, and can still tell what it is (like a toy truck) we would be interested in that too. We are looking for donations, not loans or a chance to peek at your stuff that you are not interested in donating. The advantage of a donation is that once it comes to the Museum, you will always know where it is and you can share it with your community. One catch, we may not be able to take everything donated since we have limited space and resources. 

How your recollections, photographs, and burned objects will be shared is what we starting work on now. The Sharlot Hall Museum hopes to partner with local organizations such as the Forest Service and the City to create an outdoor interpretive exhibit at the site of the Indian Creek Fire. This might also start as a traveling exhibit that can be used in downtown spaces or here at the Museum. 

Being proactive at a Museum might seem a little out of character for a bunch of historians, but it is our duty to document the history of our area - even if it happened two weeks ago. 

(Michael Wurtz is archivist at the Sharlot Hall Museum) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (f2120pa). Reuse only by permission.
From our scant records for this particular photograph, this is the Rattlesnake fire that happened east of Prescott perhaps in the 1940s. This under-documented event makes the collection of Indian Creek Fire history more urgent. We are hoping you can help the Sharlot Hall Museum chronicle our modern history.