Oh, yes, one more bit of good news. My Valentine's Day flash fiction made it into the SouthWest Writer's Association Newsletter, Sage. It's on page 5. They even found a site with a copycat recipe! For those who are not aware, Zulu King Cake is an Ambrosia Bakery original.
https://www.southwestwriters.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/FebSage2024.pdf
So excited to announce that I have signed a contract for the publication of Fried Chicken Castañeda with Artemesia Publishing. Anticipated release date is Spring 2025.
What this means is that I've removed the self-published versions from sale at Amazon and B&N. Any of you who purchased a copy now have a collector's item. 😂
Will the title change? Maybe. I kind of hope not, but I'm not going to argue about it. Will the cover change? I certainly hope so! I am not now nor have I ever pretended to be a graphic artist. Will the contents change? I would imagine so, to some extent, to make it more marketable. But the characters, setting, and basic plot will remain the same.
It also means that while my book will eventually return to Amazon and B&N, it will also find a place in real, live, honest-to-goodness bookstores! Something I could not do on my own.
In the mean time, work continues of French Toast a la Santa Fe. My writing group continues to provide valuable feedback and to catch all those internal contradictions. I'm starting to plan the next two books, in broad, general terms. The next book will be set at the Alvarado with a side trip to Taos -- I think. The fourth book will pick up right after Prudence finishes her training. The details of the training are of interest to me, but they do not a compelling story make, and it will be time for her and Jerry to resolve their relationship.
I haven't forgotten about a Fred Harvey cookbook for the 21st century, either, but that is definitely a post-retirement project. Did I mention that I'm retiring May 18? And that we will be moving to Albuquerque just as soon as we can sell the house here? Well, I am and we are! So many changes coming up!
Eeek! Has it been two months already? Goodness me! Well, my excuse is that I was waiting for the Fred Harvey History Weekend in Santa Fe October 27-29. https://fredharvey.info/event/history-weekend/
I flew into Santa Fe on October 26. I did not know that airports such as this one still operated. They say it has two gates. Oooookay ... sure. They wheeled a ramp up to the door of the plane, we all exited, then walked around to a temporary building (looked like a cargo container) which is serving as baggage claim. It has a square hole in one narrow end with a long roller table extending through from outside, angled down. They just shoved each bag through the hole! We passengers were laughing so hard, it took a minute or two for us to start pulling the bags down the table to make room for more!
This is THE event for anyone and everyone interested in Fred Harvey, Harvey Houses, the Harvey Girls, the Southwestern Indian Detours, and even the Santa Fe Railroad. The La Fonda and the Old Santa Fe Inn offer special room rates to FredHeads for the entire weekend! The lectures/presentations/film showings are all in the auditorium of the New Mexico History Museum on the Plaza in Santa Fe. "The Harvey Girls" with Judy Garland was shown Thursday afternoon and Sunday morning. I was surprised to discover that I had never before seen it!
Topics covered included Fred Harvey (natch), the architecture of the Castañeda (where was this when I was writing my novel? I wasn't far off, but I didn't know about the lunch counter and the actual configuration of the kitchens. Aw, well, it is historical fiction, after all), Harvey Girls, the discovery of new material about the Couriers (!! they found Thomas' original materials in, of all places, Wyoming), and a special sneak peek at an upcoming documentary on the Railroad Station in American Life.
This year there was a reception on Friday night with pulled pork (did I really travel all the way from Baton Rouge for pulled pork? 😂) and shredded beef sliders, coleslaw, black bean empañadas, and, unexpectedly, ratatouille. Also beverages. I have to admit that it was rather crowded, as something like 350 people attended this year's event! That's a good problem to have.
Saturday night's gala banquet was amazing, if noisy due in part to the open bar and mostly to the auction. Gorgeous red wine at the table. Also a white, but I didn't taste it. Our gift of an exclusive Mimbreno pottery spoon rest.
Passed hors d'oeuvres included duck pate and fig jam on brioche, Little Orange pancakes with smoke salmon and caviar (just pass that tray this way and set it down in front of me), and tiny shot glasses of lobster in what I think was pico de gallo. I'll take a tray of those, too. Dinner was a filet mignon (I think -- I'm not an expert on cuts of beef) that almost cut itself, roasted cauliflower and broccoli (I'm forgetting ... ) on some kind of puree. Dessert was what they called chocolate mousse, but ... not any mousse I'm familiar with. A thick layer of chocolate ganache over a chocolate pudding. A bit grainy, if I'm honest, but it was dark chocolate. It was rich and decadent and who cares what it's really called?
When I left the La Fonda to head back to the Old Santa Fe Inn, the first Santa Fe Day of the Dead parade had begun at the Plaza. It was magical! A long procession of Santa Fe-ans with painted face, many in costume, holding lit candles walking slowly around the Plaza. Also, several Big Heads (Cabezudos) on stilts. I stood and watched as long as I could, then promptly got lost on my way back to the Inn. Thank goodness for GPS! And a data plan! Because I wasn't going back to the Inn. I was going in precisely the opposite direction.
Sunday morning was the "Harvey Girls" feature, lunch at the Plaza Cafe (https://www.plazacafedowntown.com/), then a free concert at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, courtesy of a new FredHead friend (not sure she wants her name here on my blog).
Monday was more sightseeing -- revisiting places I've been before -- and lunch at The Shed (https://sfshed.com/). I should note that I had lunch at the Pantry Rio (https://www.pantryrio.com/) on Friday. All places I'd eat again.
Return flight on Tuesday was again a time warp experience. I was "randomly selected" to have my carry-on searched and my electronics tested, and when I got home, I discovered that my checked bag had been searched, as well. Hmmm ... Still, the flights themselves were uneventful.
The real struggle now is to focus on my "real" research and put off the book on the Couriers that I am now determined to write until next year.
I have found a writing group (whoo-hoo!) and have already benefitted greatly after just two meetings. First and foremost, I feel like a REAL WRITER! I'm in a GROUP. And five other people are going to read my stuff and give me feedback! Secondly, of course, are the critiques themselves which provide helpful suggestions and different perspectives. One question that nearly everyone asked about the segment I submitted this week -- the first 3,000 words of the first chapter of the second book -- was "What are combinations?" Prudence has wrapped her real jewelry in her combinations, at the bottom of her bag. Huh? Wrapped them in what?
Although combination underwear was first introduced in the Victorian Era, with knee-length bloomers, the "combinations" Prudence and other flappers wore were basically what we would call a "teddy" today -- a one-piece undergarment that combined (get it? combined -- a combination) the camisole and the drawers in one. They were usually of silk (or rayon or even cotton for the rest of us) and were worn by younger women, just as teddies are today. Older women might still be wearing the Victorian combinations that they donned as young women or a corset and bloomers.
Why "combinations?" Why plural? For the same reason we say "panties," "shorts," or "drawers" ... which, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica is because the words are "plurale tantum. The Oxford English Dictionary defines plurale tantum, which is Latin for “plural only,” as a “noun which is used only in plural form, or which is used only in plural form in a particular sense or senses.” Bifurcated items (things that can be divided into two), such as pants, fall into this category. Think of items that are usually referred to in plural—often preceded by “pair of” or something similar, even when there is only one item: pliers, glasses, scissors, sunglasses, tweezers, etc. So, pants is a type of noun that is used only in its plural form, even when there is only one item being discussed." https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-we-say-a-pair-of-pant
I will note that not every site uses the plural, but every work of fiction that I've read from the period does -- if it mentions such things. Most don't.
Why wear combinations? It gave a nice smooth line under those tubular silk dresses they wore. The same reason that women wear bodysuits and teddies today.
There are dozens of examples all over the internet. Sometimes they are called "step-ins" because, you know, you stepped into them, or "cami-knickers," but that sounds very British to my ear. One site says that they were called a "chemise," but that would be a what we today call a full slip or a camisole, as in the photo below on the right (your right).
Now that you have an idea of who Fred Harvey was and why he was important, we can move on to who the Couriers were. Strangely (or maybe not), they get far less press than the Harvey Girls. There are several websites that provide much the same basic information within the context of the Southwestern Indian Detours -- Dudes, Detourists, and Broken Axles, Splendor & Spectacle, Harvey Car Courier Corps -- and with the same inaccuracies. They are mentioned in Fried's book and referred to in articles and museum exhibits, but there's no single book that focuses just on them. D.H. Thomas' The Southwestern Indian Detours (out of print) includes the most information about them, but it also treats them as adjuncts to the more important Detours.
My guess is that it's because there were fewer of them than Harvey Girls and only those with the financial wherewithal to afford one of the Southwestern Indian Detours had any personal interactions with them. Also, the Detours were restricted to New Mexico and Arizona, and were in business, as it were, only from 1926 to about 1940 -- between the Wars, in other words. And Judy Garland never played a Courier on the big screen.
The Indian Detours had their beginning in 1892 with stagecoach trips from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon. By 1915, a spur line from Williams had been built and trains ran twice a day from the Fray Marcos Harvey House Hotel to the recently completed El Tovar, a Fred Harvey Hotel. The stagecoach and later train trips were so successful that the Fred Harvey Company soon began offering similar trips elsewhere, beginning with Santa Fe, via that new invention, the motor car. Tourists were given an illustrated brochure with a suggested walking tour, including architectural and historical information. Otherwise, they were left to their own devices.
Over the next few years, additional one-hour tours were added, designed for the train passengers on layovers. Then, World War I intervened and there was a gap until Major R. Hunter Clarkson, formerly of the Royal Flying Corps joined the Fred Harvey Company as head of transportation at the Grand Canyon. He envisioned large touring cars, full of sightseers, visiting all of the points of historical, cultural, and geological significance throughout Arizona and New Mexico. At least as importantly, he sold Ford Harvey on the idea. The sightseers would arrive on the ATSF, for which Harvey had the dining car contract. They would stay at Harvey Houses in Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Santa Fe (originally -- soon this expanded to include Williams and the Grand Canyon) and they would pay for the privilege of being driven around.
In order to justify the high prices, they decided to employ tour guides, but not just any tour guides. The Harvey Girls were already renowned for their training and customer service skills. Why not hire and train "girl guides" for the Detours (as they were now called)? They hired Erna Fegusson, whose highly successful Koshare Tours had done just that. She was given total control over the hiring and training process. Candidates had to be college graduates. They had to be at least 25 years old -- but not much older. They had to be single (that kind of went without saying). They had to learn basic conversational Spanish. Another non-English language, such as French, German, or Italian, was a plus. And they had to be willing to go through a six-week training course in every subject under the sun.
Ultimately, they also had to assist the driver with changing tires, pushing cars that were stuck, providing meals and snacks to passengers, as well as first aid. It's suggested that they were the model for later airplane stewardesses (yes, it was gendered).
The tours were all expenses-paid -- and the Couriers were responsible for booking the hotel rooms and paying the hotel and restaurant bills, which, btw, included their own expenses. They wore a uniform that identified them as Couriers -- a long-sleeved velvet blouse, similar to that worn by Navajo women, a skirt with a kick pleat or trousers for climbing the ladders at pueblo ruins, walking shoes or boots, and a soft-brimmed cloche with the Thunderbird logo pinned on it. They were expected to buy and wear a silver concho belt and squash blossom necklace, at the very least.
The training was far from cursory. The teaching staff included Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett, director of the School of American Research, Dr. Alfred V. Kidder, Andover Academy, Dr. Sylvanus Morley, Carnegie Institute, Frederick Webb Hodge, American Museum of the American Indian in New York, Charles Fletcher Lummis, journalist, historian, and founder of the Southwest Museum in L.A., and Paul A. F. Walter, New Mexican Historical Society. It will not escape your notice that these are all men -- white men -- mostly old.
The requirements that they be college graduates meant that all of the women were middle-class, the daughters of professional men. Those who had any work experience at all were primarily teachers, although many of the women had no work experience at all.
Personally, I want to know more about these women, who they were, and why they decided to become Couriers. I want to know more than their names (Thomas gives quite a few names, but no other information) and who their father was. I also want to know what they did afterward.
I want to know more about what they were taught as Couriers, given that the classes were constructed and taught by old, white American men. I'm making a trip to the University of Arizona in Tucson later this year to work with the Farona Wendling Konopak papers, which consist primarily of her Courier training materials.
And once I've done that, I'll start on volume three of the Couriers series -- or maybe volume four. 😉
Some people ask "Who were the Couriers and why are you writing about them?" In order to answer that question, I have to go back to "Who was Fred Harvey?" The most complete answer to that question can be found in Stephen Fried's "Appetite for America : Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West -- One Meal at at Time." Fried also hosts the Fred Harvey History website and there's a Wikipedia article on Harvey as well, so I'm just going to give you the quick and dirty (well, not really dirty; that's just the way the idiom is phrased) version and you can check out those sites and others for more info. I highly recommend Fried's book, btw. It reads very well.
Fred Harvey was an English immigrant to the US in 1853 at age 17. His learned the restaurant trade from the bottom up, starting as a busboy in a New York City restaurant. Long story short, post-Civil War, the railroads were expanding across the continent and he saw an opportunity for providing quality food at a reasonable with excellent customer service. He contracted with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to build and staff restaurants and hotels at all of their major stations from Chicago through to northern California and, not long after, convinced the Railway to give him the contract for the dining cars on the longer routes. Thus was born the Harvey House chain of restaurants and hotels, the very first such chain. It lasted until the 1960s. In 1968, it was bought by Amfac, which is now Xanterra, which operates (and often owns) all of the hotels and restaurants in the National Parks. Which is why the El Tovar in the Grand Canyon has a permanent exhibit on the Couriers, but that comes later.
At the time, trains stopped for about half an hour at isolated stations that might provide appallingly bad food at high prices in dirty conditions, if they provided any food at all. Passengers paid up front for a meal that they frequently were not given time to eat. The "restaurateurs" took as long as possible to bring the food out and sold the same plates of beans to different passengers all day long.
Well before Henry Ford, Harvey developed an efficient system that allowed food to be served as soon as the passenger stepped into the restaurant. Orders were taken on the train and wired ahead; ingredients were shipped via rail, so the restaurant always had adequate, fresh supplies; recipes were developed for their ease of preparation. There was something of an assembly-line about the way that passengers were moved through, but everyone who paid for food was able to eat that food.
And the food was served by a corps of Harvey Girls -- young, working-class women of high moral character who were thoroughly trained in efficient service with a smile. They wore ankle-length black dresses with long sleeves and high necklines -- Harvey did not want any hint that they were, ahem, "saloon girls" -- covered with a long, white bib apron. Their hair was pulled back into a bun and they wore a big, white bow at the back of their head.
(Three Harvey Girls in original uniform: Patti Dail, Oreva Kangun, and Edna Nation (NAU.PH.95.44.135.2).https://library.nau.edu/speccoll/exhibits/fredharvey/themes/harveygirls.html)
They were so famous that, in 1946, MGM made a musical, "Harvey Girls" starring Judy Garland, based on a 1942 novel of the same name by Samuel Hopkins Adams. Again, if you want more details, there are dozens of sites online, as well as Lesley Poling-Kempes' "The Harvey Girls: Women who Opened the West." What is particularly significant for us today is that being a Harvey Girl expanded the options of young, working-class women at a time when their choices were pretty much limited to service work such as a maid in a private home or possibly hotel, laundress, retail sales, or marriage. Harvey paid good wages and Harvey Girls were given a free ticket on the Santa Fe railroad every six months, so they got to travel -- and meet a wider range of young men than they would have at home, although they were contracted to work for a full year. So, no getting married until your year was up, because, of course, married women did not work outside the home.
When Fred died in 1901, his son Ford Harvey took over, but the company retained the name Fred Harvey, which is why "Fred Harvey" is often credited with activities that took place decades after he died.
The Corporation is credited with inventing cultural tourism, as well. At some point, someone (Ford? I can't remember) starting collecting Native American artifacts. The collection was ultimately housed in the Indian Building at the Alvarado in Albuquerque and the La Fonda in Santa Fe. After World War I, with the increase in disposable income leading to an increase in rail passenger tourism (people were no longer traveling on business or to relocate), passengers were often faced with layovers of several hours in New Mexico and Arizona. Around 1925, someone in the Corporation (yeah, I should remember, but I don't) got the bright idea to take advantage of the new automobile and sell short "detours" to scenic areas to these well-heeled tourists. They called them "Southwestern Indian Detours." And they hired middle-class college-educated young women to lead them. Rather than calling them "Tour Guides" they called them "Couriers," as in "diplomatic couriers." They were liaisons between "Americans" and "Indians."
The Detours were not cheap (in today's dollars, running around $200/day) and the Corporation wanted to make certain that Detourists (or Dudes) got their money's worth. The Couriers went through a six-week training program that crammed their heads full of geographical, historical, anthropological, and cultural information. Like Harvey Girls, they were trained in customer service and they wore a uniform that identified them as Harvey employees (no, it was not an ankle-length black dress and apron!). Unlike the Harvey Girls, it was unusual but not unheard of for a Courier to get married and keep her job.
As with the Harvey Girls, there is quite a bit of information available online, although some of it is inaccurate. There is only one book written on the Couriers and it's really more about the Detours themselves, Diane H. Thomas' "The Southwestern Indian Detours: The Story of the Fred Harvey/Santa Fe Railway Experiment in "Detourism."" And, as with the Harvey Girls, this expanded the career options for college-educated young women beyond teaching, nursing, and librarianship. They were the experts and the authorities on the people and places the Detours visited. They and the driver were responsible for the safety of the Detourists, as well as their education and entertainment and even feeding. Every car carried lunch boxes with food, beverages and ice. It has been suggested that they were the model for airline stewardesses (and yes, the gender-specific term is appropriate and relevant).
