{"id":2052,"date":"2023-05-08T12:29:36","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T19:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/special-collections\/?p=2052"},"modified":"2023-05-08T12:29:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T19:29:36","slug":"new-exhibit-showcases-early-days-of-rafting-the-grand-canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/new-exhibit-showcases-early-days-of-rafting-the-grand-canyon\/","title":{"rendered":"New Exhibit Showcases Early Days of Rafting the Grand Canyon"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Johnny Walker in Lava Falls, 1978<\/em>. Photo Michael Collier<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cline Library has unveiled a new exhibit, \u201cTHE GRAND CANYON; A Boatman\u2019s Perspective.\u201d The exhibit, curated by photographer Michael Collier, features 47 photographs that portray and reflect upon the experiences of river running of the 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The images were drawn from Michael Collier\u2019s photographic collections.\u00a0 We meet Collier and his river running comrades, paddle alongside them, and begin to feel how the experience was different then \u2013 new, raw, and full of unproven successes and failures.\u00a0 The show\u2019s QR codes connect viewers to Collier\u2019s narrative, telling the stories behind the images. The narration provides insight into an experience that once defined what it meant to be a \u2018Boatman\u2019.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Helen Fairley in Buck Farm Canyon, 1985<\/em>. Photo Michael Collier<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What was Grand Canyon river running like in earlier days?\u00a0 According to Collier:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sediment was plentiful, and the beaches were bigger.\u00a0 Wild floods held vegetation in check until Glen Canyon Dam was completed in the early 1960s. Trips were cheaper, and wages were lower.\u00a0 Passengers came from a broad cross-section of society.\u00a0 There were few Park Service regulations.\u00a0 The people of Grand Canyon \u2013 and the Canyon itself \u2013 were different in those days.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Collier first paddled through the upper Grand Canyon in 1970.\u00a0 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he rowed commercially for the precursor of Arizona Raft Adventures, which provided support for the exhibit. He received degrees in geology while studying a fold in the Muav limestone that could only be reached by raft.\u00a0 He rowed and motored on science, administrative and private trips within the Canyon.\u00a0 Always, he photographed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Gary Mercado below Thunder River, 1975<\/em>. Photo Michael Collier<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, is located on the east side of the Jean Collins Reading Room on the first floor of Cline Library and is available whenever the library is open.\u00a0 Cline Library is located at the intersection of Knoles Drive and McCreary Road on the campus of Northern Arizona University (NAU). For information on public parking options, visit nau.edu\/parking<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The exhibit is part of the library\u2019s commitment to providing educational and cultural opportunities for NAU students and the surrounding community.\u00a0 For more information on Cline Library, visit nau.edu\/library. The exhibit will be installed on the first floor of the library in the public exhibit space through December 15, 2023.\u00a0 For more information, contact Kevin Ketchner via email kevin.ketchner@nau.edu.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cline Library has unveiled a new exhibit, \u201cTHE GRAND CANYON; A Boatman\u2019s Perspective.\u201d The exhibit, curated by photographer Michael Collier, features 47 photographs that portray and reflect upon the experiences of river running of the 1970s and 1980s. The images were drawn from Michael Collier\u2019s photographic collections.\u00a0 We meet Collier and his river running comrades, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2052"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2054,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052\/revisions\/2054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/library-cline-special-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}