Unseen Erickson P.3
FROM THE MILTON H. ERICKSON FOUNDATION ARCHIVES
Collection: The Milton H. Erickson Workshop Files
Archives Location: U: Row 6, Column 1, Shelf 3, Box 279, Folder 23
by Joyce Bavlinka, m. ed., lisac
THE TURTLE AND THE BOLA
Sarah Clinebell, who has been working on the Archives since June 2022, has supplied us with the contents of a folder named “Cruise Folder, January 4 – 18, 1958.” The contents of the folder include details of the cruise, correspondence setting up the lecture series, brochures and about the cruise vessel and excursions available at cruise stops, correspondence with Dr. Mars, the contact person for the Port-au-Prince stay, an article regarding setting up of the first psychiatric hospital in Haiti, and correspondence regarding a turtle and a boa. There was a prior post about the cruise and the hospital.
The cruise left time open for Erickson to explore Port-au-Prince and Erickson had some dealings with K. A. Fisher, owner of The Art and Curio Shop on Rue Du Quai. Their stationery declares the shop to be “Makers and Exporters of Haitian Mahogonywares, Sisal and Strawgoods.” [Spelling in the paragraph is as it appears on their stationary.] They were importers and distributors of:
French Perfumes
French Dutch Danish, English - Austrian Porcelains, Brandies and Liquors
Fabrics and Leather Goods
Doeskin Gloves
Crisalwares
Beaded and Petitpoint bags
Swiss Watches
Erickson must have worn his Rain Dancer bola tie to the shop and Fisher asked Erickson if he could secure a similar tie for him.
From the Archives: February 26, 1958
Erickson writes to Dr. Kurt A. Fisher that he was able to locate the Navaho artist, Frank Wilson, who created Erickson’s Rain Dancer. The bola will cost $25.00. “Just when it will be ready, I do not know.”
From the Archives: April 3, 1958
Kurt Fisher writes to Erickson about paying the $25.00 for the bola.
Fisher hopes that Erickson’s son Allan likes the tortoise shell that Erickson had gotten for him. Fisher mentions, “I got complete turtles, head, legs everything wonderfull [sic] made up by the taxidermist. Would your son like to have one, they are big like the shell you got. “
From the Archives: April 30, 1958
Fisher writes Erickson. He agrees that he will swap his $25.00 debt for the tie for the turtle he is sending to Erickson for Allen.
“The turtle left Haiti last Saturday with an Haitian exhibit which will be shown at the U.S. World Trade Fair at the Coliseum in New York. The U. S. World Trade Fair is from May 7 to May 17 and the man in charge of the Haiti stand is Mr. Fitz Maximillian. Please contact him by letter and he will send you the turtle after the May 17.”
The turtle is shipped via Railway Express to 32 West Cypress Street, Phoenix, on May 23, 1958. We have no further details on the arrival in Phoenix or Allan’s reaction to the turtle. We checked the items at the Erickson Historic Residence and there is no mention of a turtle.
END NOTES: found along the way: the author adds some interesting facts, websites and amusing information found while researching.
Dr. Jeff Zeig: the Kachina Video
Listen to Dr. Jeff Zeig, Director of the Milton H. Erickson Foundation, as he conducts a tour of the Erickson Historic Residence in Phoenix. In this clip, he discusses Erickson’s appreciation for cultural differences, his interest in anthropology and indigenous culture and arts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yto6UQwuU4&list=PLqtdzIH7y-h1-knBPlpssKZsd5kg_QDMs&index=6
You can see this bola in the video. This not the Rain Dancer.
Also, found while researching, was a November 11, 1951, copy of the Haiti Sun, a local Port-au-Prince newspaper. The featured front-page articles include the trip of 61 United States Air Force wives that travel to Haiti for a day for shopping and a featured column, “Personality of the Week.”
The 61 wives came in on a chartered World Airway DC-4 aircraft from Ramey Air force Base in Puerto Rico. The lunched at “Captn Aces, Hotel Riviera, Savory Restaurant and Kalmers Café.” The report adds that as the shoppers returned to the airfield for the return flight, “the terminal looked like a forest of mahogany and a sea of sisal.”
The “Personality of the Week,” Artilio Briani, was a retired engineer who served in World War I, invented a device similar to a shock absorber and built airplanes!
The paper also included an ad for Fisher’s Art and Curio Shop
https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/01/50/23/00060/AA00015023_00060.pdf
