Hi.
I'm Anita Badertscher. I'm an interpreter here at TumacÃ¡cori National Historical Park and I would introduce you
to the little wax figures in our museum.
The first -- we call them dioramas -- the first diorama you'll encounter in our museum
is this of Father Kino arriving in the Santa Cruz Valley.
Now what I mostly want to point out is the little figures all of these dioramas.
These are dear friends of ours and they've been here since the 1930's.
These figures were all created under New Deal era funding so artists in California made
these little guys using metal skeletons and then wax.
So these are little wax figures and they have real clothing and real hair and they are incredibly
lifelike.
The second diorama you'll find in our museum is this, of the Pima uprising -- Pima Rebellion
-- of 1751 and this diorama was really important in that at one point, years ago, I was working
on a little publication to give out to visitors about the museum and I saw a picture of a
gunman, holding a gun, and I couldn't find him anywhere in the museum.
So I came in here and looked and I finally figured out that he was this little man right
here with the hat and the gun and over the years he had... "schlumped."
Because he was made of wax and because this was a very old museum.
So we brought in some experts to help bring him back up and we now know that these are
very delicate little figures that we must take very good care of because they can soften
in the heat.
The last of the three dioramas in our museum is a beautiful, accurate depiction of the
inside of the church when it was actually decorated and in use.
With a whole room full of people participating in a Mass.
The most interesting figure is the one right here in the front -- this little gentleman
-- that is a self-portrait of the artist who made most of these figures.
That is Bart Frost.
On your first visit to TumacÃ¡cori it's pretty easy to figure out why the park is here when
you see that big, beautiful old church.
Some of the treasures of TumacÃ¡cori, though, are less-easily noticed.
The small, historic dioramas tucked away in our museum.
Just walking by them and taking a glance, you'd have no idea all the detail and research
that went into them and how incredibly accurate they are in representing the past.