28 Nov 7th-Nov 13th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Celebrating the Past City-created Phoenix history series is up for an Emmy. BY GERI KOEPPEL W hen people think about cities with rich history, Phoenix doesn’t usually come to mind. A video series that’s been nominated for a regional Emmy Award aims to change that. “Putting a Stamp on Phoenix History” is a six-part online series with each segment running for about five or six minutes. The people behind it hope it reaches a broader audience to foster civic pride and make residents think about how they’ll shape the future. “We can’t know where we’re going without knowing where we’ve been,” says Stephanie Barnes, chief digital officer for City of Phoenix communications. She co-produced the series with Jim Hartman, media production specialist for city of Phoenix communications, and Steve Schumacher, the Phoenix Mayor’s Office official historian. Series began as a training tool About two years ago, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego asked Schumacher to take the appointment as Mayor’s Office official historian — the first time such a title has existed — to raise awareness of Phoenix’s history. He devised the idea of a video series and pitched it to the city’s human resources department as an employee training tool. It rolled out in March, which is Phoenix History Month. “If somebody is employed by the city, they should understand the city they’re representing and the history of the city they’re representing,” Schumacher says. City employees can access “Putting a Stamp on Phoenix History” via the PHXYOU online learning program, and it’s also aired on the city’s government access channel, PHXTV, and available on the CityofPhoenixAZ channel on YouTube. Schumacher originally envisioned the series running about three hours, he recalls, but he was given about 30 minutes. Barnes and Hartman were tasked with working with him and asked to record six or eight lectures he’d deliver on camera. Being visual storytellers, Barnes and Hartman knew a talking head wouldn’t cut it. They asked Schumacher to invite other historians to be interviewed for each segment, and they illustrated the series with historical photos and engaging orig- inal graphics. “We challenged Steve to hit the high- lights of eras, which he did really well — not only with the content but the historians he chose,” Hartman says. The key presenters in the series, chron- ologically, are Jacob Butler, council member for the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community; Sgt. Vincent Cole, Phoenix Police historian; Jarrod Riddle, historian and owner/operator of Spirit of Arizona Tours; Andrea Barerra, social science specialist for the Cartwright School District; Anthony Pratcher II, Northern Arizona University assistant professor of African American Studies; Regina Best, Phoenix native and history enthusiast; and Mark Tebau, Arizona State University professor and senior global future scientist. Schumacher says the key presenters each were given about five bullet points to cover, but the segments weren’t strictly scripted. Riddle says the producers did a great job “teaspooning” the information rather than dumping too much on viewers. Barrera, who appears in the series, says it’s also being used to build teachers’ knowledge of local history and helps them get students excited about it. “We try as much as possible to share this resource with everybody in the educa- tion world,” she states. Covering canal builders to home builders Part of the appeal of “Putting a Stamp on Phoenix History” is that it deftly covers thousands of years in small chunks of time. “I don’t think anyone stops to consider how Phoenix went from (Huhugam) canals in the year 100 to the fifth-largest city in the country,” Riddle says. The series begins by discussing the ingenious water delivery system made by the Indigenous Huhugam, or ancestors of the O’odham, who created an agricultural empire. European settlers later built on the existing canals; some are still used today. It also mentions several city pioneers. Jack Swilling reestablished farming in the Salt River Valley. Dr. Winston Hackett and his wife, Ayra Hackett, opened the Booker T. Washington Memorial Hospital to serve communities of color and published one of the first Black newspapers in the state. Builders like Del Webb, who opened Sun City, and John F. Long, who developed Maryvale — the state’s first planned community — boosted the midcentury population. Schumacher noted that Dwight B. Heard, the publisher of the Arizona Republican (now the Arizona Republic) and namesake of the Heard Museum, was an avid historian. Still, after he died in 1929 until recently, little attention was paid to the city’s past. Buildings are razed all the time, and the stories associated with them tend to get lost. “We lose so many historic buildings because of our growth, because of the lack of that hometown pride,” Riddle notes. But recently, Schumacher says, there’s been a renewed interest in saving buildings and learning about the city’s past. He credits this to the mayor creating the offi- cial historian position along with a growing number of historic preservation groups and studies showing a dollar value associated with historical sites and buildings. “People are starting to see the value in backing up from the go-go-go growth of Phoenix and saying, ‘Hey, our history is pretty neat,’” he says. Emmy nomination itself an honor Riddle was excited to find out that “Putting a Stamp on Phoenix History” was entered into the “historical/cultural/ business/consumer content” category of the 47th Annual Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter Regional Emmy Awards. “Then it got nominated and it was like, oh my God, this is legit,” he says. Most regional Emmy entries come from local TV stations, so it’s unusual to see city- produced works nominated. And a nomi- nation is an accomplishment in itself because an entry must receive a certain number of points from judges even to be in the contest. Unlike the Academy Awards, however, there could be multiple regional Emmy winners in a category, depending on which entries meet a benchmark score. The gala ceremony is on Nov. 16 here in Phoenix, and Barnes, Hartman and Schumacher are attending. Even if the series doesn’t snag an award, those who worked on it say they hope the attention sparks a bigger interest in Phoenix history and makes people think about how they’re part of creating it. “I’m very proud of the project, and the Emmy nomination is just 5,000 cherries on top,” Riddle says. No light rail here: People walked, biked or took horse-drawn trolleys to get around downtown Phoenix in the late 1800s. (Courtesy of City of Phoenix) Phoenix in 1920 had a growing downtown. (Courtesy of City of Phoenix) Northern Arizona University Assistant Professor of African American Studies Anthony Pratcher II is one of the experts featured in “Putting a Stamp on Phoenix History.” (Courtesy of City of Phoenix) ▼ Arts & Culture