Museum Gift Shops—a guilty pleasure

I’m going out on a limb here and admitting a particular weakness for museum gift shops.  I’m among friends, right? And no one will think less of me.  Not long ago, my husband and I took a 2-day trip to Tombstone in southern Arizona. He wanted to see the famous sights (OK Corral, Birdcage Theatre, Boothill Graveyard), and as an author of western historicals, I’m always looking for research opportunities.

Who knew all that history occurred in an area that is only three blocks long and four blocks wide? We started at the courthouse museum and I could have spent the entire day there. Great exhibits and specimens with detailed descriptions. We saw such a thorough depiction of the shootout of the OK Corral (and a carefully researched rebuttal) that we didn’t feel the need to sit in the hot sun to watch the reenactment.

For me, the real treasures are the books in the gift shop. The ones that have a narrow focus and are usually written by people who live in that geographic area. Children’s books featuring desert animals from the region, recipe books using native plants, biographies of famous people involved with the locale. (I did carry around at least one of these three types before making my final decision.) Because I live in a small cabin with limited shelf space, I truly had to restrain my buying habits but couldn’t resist three titles. One highlighted Arizona mining towns, another included stories of frontier female doctors or nurses, and the last was a picture book about Tombstone. I never know when one tidbit of first-hand information will be the exact fact I need to make my historical stories as authentic as they can be. So many research books, such limited shelf space. Sigh.

Anyone else confess to a similar guilty pleasure?

My only book so far set in Arizona was part of the American Mail-Order Brides series titled Libbie: Bride of Arizona. Alone for the first time, tomboyish Libbie Van Eycken accepts a mail-order proposal and travels across country to find a place to call her own. Arizona rancher Dell Stirling needs a wife but didn’t count on the eccentric creature that brings chaos in her wake.

Historical Romance

Written by Samantha Bayarr

When I think of historical romance, one thing comes to mind; the old west. From dime novels to mining towns and outlaws, the old west is full of a sort of "romance" that is unmatched by anything else in our history. As a writer, I found the old west to be the perfect backdrop for several of my historical romance books, Tombstone, Arizona, holding a particular interest for me because of its romantic history. Don't get me wrong, violence played a big part in the romantic interest of this rough and rowdy town, a place known as The Town too Tough to Die. 

{Reenactment of the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, AZ}

  

  

We know better today, but the stories have become more romanticized as the days have gone by. Back then, women seemed to love tough men who’d strap a six-gun to his hips and a badge on his chest, but they were also quick to mourn the men who were hanged.  Men like Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers have been romanticized since the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, in Cochise County, on October 26, 1881. That afternoon, approximately 30 shots were fired in the span of about 30 seconds’ time, and 3 were killed, 3 wounded.

{Reproduction of the Tombstone Epitaph (a gift from my friend, Lisa Towns Myers)}

Doctor Goodfellow, a man I've characterized in my books, was the treating physician for the wounded lawmen after the gunfight, which included deputized, Doc Holliday. There was no shortage of gunfights in the old west, but that fated afternoon at the OK Corral was the one most remembered in our western history.

In the old west, the term Cowboy was used for an outlaw, and ranchers were referred to as cattlemen, their hired hands often referred to as saddle-tramps because they were often drifters and spent a lot of time in the saddle. If a cattleman was called a “cowboy”, it was considered an insult. The term cowboy today means something entirely different. The word alone stirs up plenty of romance, and many a book has been written (mine included) where the cowboy was the hero and not the outlaw, as was the reality back then.

When I began to research Arizona territory, Tombstone, in particular, for a series of mail-order-brides books I was working on, I was amazed at the amount of information on the area. I was able to find an old fire marshal's street map of the area in the 1880’s, allowing me to take my characters and readers accurately through the town just as it was back then. Although my books were set in 1885, after the famous gunfight, I was able to include Doctor Goodfellow and the sheriff at the time in my stories, although I added fictitious other sheriffs, deputies, and marshals.

For more interesting tidbits on Tombstone, Arizona, please look for my future posts every third Monday of the month. In the meantime, enjoy the other wonderful posts right here almost daily.

All original pictures were used with permission from the photographer, Lisa Towns Myers. You can find more of her wonderful pictures here: Lisa's Country Photos

Best-Selling Author, Samantha Bayarr, has written over 100 books in Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance, Western Romance, Amish Romance, and Amish Suspense. Her favorite genre is Historical Romance. 

A former Paralegal, Samantha lives in an historical home in a small town in Florida with her husband, John Foster, who writes Christian Children’s Books. She spends her free time illustrating her husband's books, drawing and painting each by hand.

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