GERTRUDE HELEN RICH BOWEN with her class IN ARIZONA

I believe this is Gertrude Bowen with her class of students in Arizona. This was most likely taken in the mid-to-late 1930s.

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I don't know how many tribes are represented in this shot, but believe the boy on the far right is Diné/Navajo. I hope it was a school that allowed each child's culture to flourish, especially their language. I'd hate to think of it as one of the schools where Native children were forced to conform to white culture.

It's interesting to think back on how rural Arizona was. No freeways. No tall buildings. At the same time this shot was taken Arizona was advertising their "dude ranches" in magazines to tourists all over the country.

Imagine what these children thought when tourists showed up with cameras wanting to take their photo. There had to be moments when they felt like animals stuck in a zoo.

GERTRUDE HELEN RICH BOWEN

Last Sunday I purchased a small bin of photographs at the flea market. You can read about it here. For this weeks Sepia Saturday I'm going to feature a woman who probably once owned many of these photos.

Gertrude Helen Rich was born on December 21, 1885. At some point she married and her last name became Bowen. She was a schoolteacher in Nebraska, which is also where I believe she was born. She had a son named Arthur who was stationed in Germany after the war. They both eventually ended up in Phoenix, Arizona. That is all the biographical information I know about Gertrude.

This first photo was a "Souvenir of Our School Days" taken by W. P. Fritz in Fremont, Nebraska. On the back of a copy of this photo it says:

Mrs. Gertrude H. Bowen Graduation Picture Fremont College, Nebraska About 1905

On the back of this shot it says:

Gertrude Helen Rich (Bowen) second from the right, her friend Elizabeth Davidson third from the right, on a picture taking expedition with three high school boys on March 18, 1910. Near Springfield, Nebraska.

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On October 21, 1930 she received the following teaching certificate.

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On October 4, 1932 she received the following certificate in Arizona.

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On the back of this shot it says:

Phoenix, Arizona

July 1954

Left to Right:

Mrs. Gertrude H. Bowen

Homer Graves (her nephew)

Arthur D. Bowen (Mrs. Bowen's son)

Donald Graves (Homer's son)

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And finally this shot was processed in June 1961.

It fascinates me as to how many collections I have that once belonged to schoolteachers.

All this week I have been featuring photos from this bin which I call the Ten Buck Box. I will continue to feature even more images over the coming weeks.

UPDATE: I've added an additional photo of Gertrude here which is the oldest I have of her. It was taken in 1973. She died in 1974.