Frank Midvale |
| Posted 2013-05-07 by Leora Zahorik |
| The Arizona Museum of Natural History Frank Midvale May 09, 1903 ~ November 27, 1971 Frank Midvale’s intense interest in archaeology began at a very young age and carried through his entire life. Funding his work through teaching and other jobs, Midvale roamed the Arizona desert recording Hohokam sites and mapping the prehistoric canal systems. His notes on file at ASU preserve valuable information on sites now long destroyed by modern construction. Following his early experiences with archaeology in the 1920s, Midvale directed excavations of a platform mound at the site of La Ciudad covered today by Saint Luke’s Hospital, for Dwight Heard, a wealthy Phoenix business man and founder of the Heard Museum. Thousands of visitors toured the excavations at La Ciudad from 1929 to 1936. Having earned a B.A. in anthropology, Frank was completing his master’s degree at the University of Arizona when the United States entered World War II. He then served his country as a member of the Army Air Corps. He finished his formal career in archaeology in the late 1960s as an interpreter at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, a job he loved. In 1927 Midvale purchased Mesa Grande from Ann Madora Barker to preserve the site. With his wife Grace, he founded a group that ultimately became the Mesa Historical and Archaeological Society, which originally was dedicated to the preservation of Mesa Grande. Unable to open Mesa Grande to the public, Midvale transferred the mound to Jack and Acquanetta Ross in 1962. Midvale hoped that they had the influence to accomplish his dream of opening an archaeological park. The preservation of Mesa Grande and his irreplaceable notes on Hohokam sites stand as Frank Midvale’s lasting legacies. See Also: Find A Grave |
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