Abstract

Desert View Watchtower opened in 1933 on the Grand Canyon South Rim, under the management of the Fred Harvey Company. The structure contains many self-contradictions, in terms of style and use. In this thesis, I argue that these contradictions come from the dichotomous motives of Desert View Watchtower's architect, Mary Colter, and her employers, the Fred Harvey Company and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. New western history theory of the Mythical West is used to explain Harvey/Santa Fe marketing, which created a narrative suggesting that Native American lifeways were going to disappear from the Southwest. I argue that Mary Colter wished to contradict this messaging as, at this later point in her career, she had found similarities between her experience in hegemonic systems that belittled her and that of Native Americans working in the commercialized tourism industry which belittled them. Colter's main method of empowering Native voices was to hire the Hopi artist Fred Kabotie and defer to him in her writings.

Degree

MA

College and Department

Humanities; Comparative Arts and Letters

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2024-08-16

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13340

Keywords

Grand Canyon, Desert View Watchtower, Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, Fred Kabotie, Hopi, Fred Harvey Company, Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, new western history, arts and crafts, Indian Craze, Southwest, tourism, regionalism, feminism, women in architecture, Native American artists

Language

english

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