There are a variety of ways to experience Tucson’s history in January at the Presidio Museum.

 

Our Living History Day: Trades, Skills and Crafts of the Southwest will be held on Saturday, Jan. 13, from 10 am-2 pm.  The event will take an in-depth look at the types of jobs or skills that men and women had in the 18th and 19th centuries. Also included will be the arts and crafts that emerged from being part of New Spain and Mexico at the time.  Activities will focus on:

**The life of a Presidio soldier

**The territorial homemaker

**Hazards in the 1800s home and how easy it was for people to poison themselves

**Colcha embroidery

**The art of alebrijes with a temporary exhibit featuring their origin, the artist credited for creating them, and how they became one of Mexico’s most popular forms of folk art

**The art of the Virgin de Guadalupe and her association with Mexico – lecture at 10:45 and 11:15 am

**Demonstration of the making of handmade tortillas followed by tastings.

In addition, this event will comprise a variety of demonstrations that may include blacksmithing, soldier drills and cannon fire, and more.

The event is included in admission.

 

January’s Salon & Saloon Lecture this month is “Tucson’s Presidio During the Mexican Era,1821-1854”held on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 2 pm in the Monsoon Room at JoJo’s restaurant, 201 N. Court Ave., across the street from the Presidio Museum. Attendees will hear what life was like in Tucson during the Mexican Era, a transitional and important period, which is often glossed over in most tellings of our history. Discussions will include events that affected life here prior to Mexican Independence, what life was like in Tucson at the time, and what made the Mexican Era in Tucson so significant. Lectures are $5/person and can be paid at the door or online at https://tucsonpresidio.com/calendar/9667/

 

A special lecture by archaeologist and historian Homer Thiel will be held on Sunday, Jan. 28, at 2 pm at the Presidio Museum, 196 N. Court Ave.  “Soledad Jacome, a Territorial Tucson Seamstress and Mother” will focus on the lady who lived in what is today the Presidio Museum’s Gift Shop and exhibit space. Jacome arrived in Tucson from Sonora in the late 1850s and began a relationship that led to the birth of six daughters. After her common-law husband abandoned her in 1873, how did she cope with raising her four surviving daughters?  Archaeological finds and historical documents play a role in revealing the life of this remarkable woman and help explain what life was like for women in Tucson during the 19th and early 20th centuries.  This lecture is $5/person and can be paid at the door or online at https://tucsonpresidio.com/calendar/special-lecture-soledad-jacome-a-territorial-tucson-seamstress-and-mother-jan-28-2-pm/

 

Our popular walking tours will continue this month.  The cost is $30 for non-members and $20 for Presidio Museum members unless otherwise noted.  Pre-registration is required at https://tucsonpresidio.com/walking-tours/. 

 

Mainly Murals – Jan. 6, 10 am-12 pm

Armory Park – Jan. 6, 10 am-12 pm

Turquoise Trail – Jan. 13, 10 am-12:30 pm

Walking the Wall of the Original Presidio – Jan. 11, 10 am-12 pm

Presidio District – Jan. 19, 10 am-12:30 pm

Barrio Viejo – Jan. 20, 10-11:30 am

Mansions of Main Avenue – Jan. 20, 10 am-12 pm

Turquoise Trail: A Slightly Shorter Version – Jan. 21, 9-11 am

Turquoise Trail: A Slightly Shorter Version WITH WINE TASTING – Jan. 21, 1-4 pm ($60/non-member, $50/member) – NEW TOUR

Santa Cruz River History – Jan. 26, 10 am-12pm ($35/non-member, $25/member includes admission to Mission Garden

Public Art & Murals (Standard Tour) – Jan. 27, 8-10 am

Public Art & Murals (With Wine Tasting) – Jan. 27, 1-4 pm ($65/non-member, $55/member includes wine tasting)

 

The Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum is located on the northeast corner of the original Presidio at 196 N. Court Ave. The Presidio Museum is a reconstruction of the original Tucson Presidio built in 1775. Docent tours give visitors a glimpse of what life in the Presidio was like for soldiers and other residents.  Additional highlights include an original 150-year-old Sonoran row house and a 2,000-year-old prehistoric pit house.  Admission is $9 for adults, $6 for children ages 6-13 and free for children five and under and Presidio Museum members. Pima County residents, seniors 65+ and members of the military receive a $3 discount with ID. The Presidio Museum is managed by the Tucson Presidio Trust for Historic Preservation, a not-for-profit entity whose mission is to guide and aid in the interpretation of history at the Presidio San Agustín through research, education and living history experiences.

 

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