1887 San Xavier Hotel Ledger & Ephemera
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GUEST:
This is a hotel ledger from the San Xavier Hotel, and… it was given to my great-grandfather. He was in mining in Arizona and he knew everybody because he traveled extensively. And in the course of his travels, he met some of the military people who were responsible for capturing Geronimo. And so he was invited to the celebrations that Tucson gave to these men, and… the clerk of the hotel gave him the hotel ledger that had all the signatures of these people. And included with those signatures are people who are important in Arizona history.
APPRAISER:
Was it November of 1887?
GUEST:
Yeah, this-- the date is right here, yeah, November 6.
APPRAISER:
November 6, 1887.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRASIER: There was a big celebration in here in Tucson for General Nelson A. Miles, who was the Army commander in charge of the department of Arizona, who was directly responsible for... we don't want to say capturing Geronimo…
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
…because Geronimo really surrendered. Ah… and what we've got here is just tremendous amount of ephemera. Things like the invitations to the ball that was held for Nelson Miles. The dance card…
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…that was used at the dance, it has a picture of Miles on the front, and Geronimo on the back.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And these marvelous photographs of the parade that occurred at the time of the celebration. What have you found out about some of the signatures in the book?
GUEST:
Today we just found, uh, Lieutenant Charles Gatewood, who actually was the one who talked Geronimo into coming down. And, he--
APPRAISER:
And this was in Mexico, right, in 1886?
GUEST:
Yes, yes. The other signatures in there that would be noteworthy would be Barry Goldwater's father, Carl Hayden's father, Virgil Earp.
APPRAISER:
Lots of people important in Arizona history.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
It's an absolutely unique collection. Do you have any idea what it might be worth?
GUEST:
Oh no, I have no idea.
APPRAISER:
Well, I want to be conservative and guess that it's probably worth between $8,000 and $10,000, and it might be worth a lot more than that, but so much of this stuff is unknown, and my guess is that I'm on the low side.
GUEST:
Really.
APPRAISER:
So it's a great group of stuff.
GUEST:
Great.
APPRAISER:
It really was a treat to see it.
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