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Ward family collection 1959-2002

NAU.MI.2002.33
NAU.OH.2002.103.1

Biographical Note

Mary Wanda Ward (nee Mary Wanda Foster) was born September 17, 1922. Wanda grew up in Virden, New Mexico with her five siblings and mother. She met her future husband, Byron "Mack" McKinley Ward in 1939, when she was attending Western New Mexico State College in Silver City, New Mexico. The two married August 13, 1940. The Wards had five children: Jo Ellen Ward (1943), David Mack Ward (1945), Steven Fred Ward (1948), Philip Franklin Ward (1960), and Jane Elizabeth Ward (1963).

Following Mack Ward's military service during World War II, the Wards moved to Tucson, Arizona, where Mack completed his bachelor's degree, attended medical school, and graduated with a Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Arizona.

In 1959, the Wards moved to Page, Arizona amongst the excitement and conflicts associated with the construction of Glen Canyon Dam. As a pharmacist, the Wards established the only drug store, Page Rexall Drugstore, in the surrounding area. It remained the only drug store until its closing in 1982. Wanda and Mack were both active comumnity members who served on the boards of various school, religious, charitable and social service organizations in Page. Wanda Ward died January 18, 2020 in Page, Arizona.

Information in this biographical note is based on a January 22, 2020 obituary for Mary Wanda Ward in the Arizona Daily Sun.

Scope and Content

The Ward family collection (NAU.MI.2002.33) includes 2 VHS tape copies of 8mm film footage of a Ward family outing to the Glen Canyon Dam during its construction, believed to have been created by Byron "Mack" McKinley Ward. The footage includes mages of assorted Ward family members including Mack, Wanda, Steven, and Philip Ward, dam construction workers, spillway tunnels, cranes moving cement to the dam wall, and the Colorado River and surrounding environs.

The collection also contains an oral history interview (NAU.OH.2002.103.1) with Mary Wanda Ward conducted by her daughter Jane Ward, possibly together with SCA staff member Karen Underhill, in 2002.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Access

Due to a lack of required playback equipment and the fragility of the materials in question, the audiocassette and microcassette in the Ward family collection (NAU.OH.2002.103.1) are unavailable for access and use in the Miriam Lemont Reading Room. Researchers interested in audio recordings which have yet to be digitized by SCA should contact the department to learn more.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for Northern Arizona University, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.

Related Material

Controlled Access Terms

Administrative Information

Digital Material Available

SCA staff digitized materials from the Ward family collection in 2010. Digitized materials can be accessed online via the Colorado Plateau Digital Collections. Use the search menu to search for "Ward family" in "Collection name."

Click here to view digitized materials from the Ward family collection via the Colorado Plateau Digital Collections.

Item-level links to digitized material are provided below.

Preferred Citation

[Title or brief description of file or item.] Ward family collection [moving images], NAU.MI.2002.33.[ ]. Northern Arizona University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives. Flagstaff, Arizona.

[Title or brief description of file or item.] Ward family collection [oral history interviews], NAU.OH.2002.103.1. Northern Arizona University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives. Flagstaff, Arizona.

Acquisition Information

Mary Wanda Ward donated a taped oral history interview conducted by Jane Ward in 2002.

Jane E. Ward loaned Cline Library Special Collections and Archives original 8mm film titled "Dam to Date" for copying in 2002.

Processing Information

SCA staff members Bee Valvo and Melanie Gerton processed and described materials in the Ward family collection in 2002 or 2003. Valvo created 3 format-based groups: moving images/film, oral history, and photographs.

In 2022, Samantha Meier updated the finding aid for the Ward family collection to correct typographical errors and to include additional information about the extent of the collection.

During this 2022 re-processing, Meier and other SCA staff members determined that a photograph previously included in the collection's finding aid (NAU.PH.2002.33.1 - Aerial photograph of Page, Arizona) could not be located in SCA's storage areas. Additionally, the image was not mentioned or included in any existing donor paperwork for the Ward family collection. Meier removed information about the photograph from the Ward family collection finding aid.

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