Jan MacKell Collins - Good Time Girls of Arizona and New Mexico: A Red-Light History of the American Southwest

Jan MacKell Collins has been a published author, speaker, and presenter since 2003. Her focus has always been on western history, with an emphasis on historical prostitution. Collins has published numerous articles on her subjects in such magazines as True West, Montana Magazine, All About History, and numerous regional magazines. She currently resides in Oregon, where she continues researching the history of prostitution.

A lthough I only began researching historical prostitution in Arizona in earnest in 2006, it seems as though the list of people I want to thank has grown extraordinarily large. They include, but are not limited to, Jack Riddle and the very helpful ladies at the Bisbee Historical Society in Bisbee. In Flagstaff, Arizona, Joe Meehan and his staff at the Arizona Historical Society; Karen Underhill at Cline Library, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff; and Gwen McGaugh Groth have been of immense help and support. Thank you to Bonnie at the Gila County Historical Museum in Miami for taking the time to chat with me and for copying documents for me to study. I also truly appreciate the quick assistance of Laura Palma-Blandford, archivist at the Arizona State Library in Phoenix.

In Prescott, John Brusco and John and Mary Jo Murray willingly shared their knowledge, images and papers from Gabe Dollie Wileys estate. Prescott historians Parker Anderson, Brad Courtney, Ken Edwards, Elisabeth Ruffner, and Patricia Ireland-Williams have encouraged me along every step of my journey. The staff at Sharlot Hall Museum Library & Archives have always been most helpful with my research, wherever in Arizona it has led. Docents at the Tombstone Museum and the Jerome Historical Society also were of great help in this and other projects.

I also want to thank Shelly Dudley, the book queen of Guidon Books in Scottsdale, Arizona, for her encouragement. Thanks also to Bob Boze Bell at True West magazine for publishing my ongoing tales of wanton women. Wyatt and Terry Earp and their webmaster, Dale Schmidt, have been helpful on this and so many other projects. In about 2012 I met Michelle Bowers through my brother-in-law, who told her what I write about. Through the course of time, Michelle told me of her Great-Aunt Bertha, whom she knew of as Cordie, and who was once a reigning madam in Williams, Arizona. Our journey of discovery about Bertha has been fun, surprising, and amazing all at once. I am indebted to Michelle for sharing what she knew about Bertha.

In New Mexico, the late George Schafer at the wonderfully preserved Pinos Altos Museum was a joy to know and even set up a book signing for me in that remote little community. Thanks also goes out to Barry Drucker of State of New Mexico State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe, Daniel Kosharek at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, the docents at Albuquerque Museum, and Molly Healy at the Silver City Museum and Gift Shop. Special thanks to the ladies at Alpine Cabins in Alpine, Arizona, who put me up after I wandered across the border late one night for the best sleep I never had in New Mexico. I owe a big thank you to Tome on the Range in Las Vegas and Bookworks in Albuquerque, for helping me find resources and hosting my book signings. Thanks also to my late Uncle Mike and his friend Keizer, whom I actually met on my honeymoon and who willingly listened to the stories about my girls as we camped above the ghost town of Mogollon. A final deserved thank-you goes to my late Uncle Howard and his family. Howard called me a great autodidact, a term I have come to embrace in my little history realm. Though we only reconnected after decades of being lost, his encouragement, his outlook on life, and his candid opinions about things in general were of great inspiration to me.

Last, I must thank my editors, Erin Turner and Alex Bordelon, plus everyone else at TwoDot, for helping me make sure my Ts were crossed and my Is were dotted, as well as for letting me ramble on about the shady ladies I love so much.

Alexander, Bob. Six-Guns and Single-Jacks: A History of Silver City and Southwestern New Mexico. Silver City, NM: Gila Books, 2005.

Anderson, Greta. More than Petticoats: Remarkable Texas Women. Guilford, CT: TwoDot, 2002.

Blevins, Don. A Priest, a Prostitute, and Some Other Early Texans Guilford, CT: TwoDot, 2008.

Boyer, Glen G., editor, I Married Wyatt Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, second printing, 1979.

Branning, Debe. Sleeping With Ghosts! A Ghost Hunters Guide to Arizonas Haunted Hotels and Inns. Phoenix, AZ: Goldenwest Publishers, third printing, 2007.

Burchell, Donna Black. Wicked Women of New Mexico. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2014.

Butler, Anne M. Daughters of Joy, Sisters of Misery: Prostitutes in the American West186590. Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1987.

Caillou, Aliza, Experience Jerome and the Verde Valley, Legends and Legacies. Sedona, AZ: Thorne Enterprises, 1990.

Cline, Platt. Mountain Town: Flagstaffs First Century. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Press Publishing Company, 1994.

Collins, Jan MacKell. Wild Women of Prescott, Arizona. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2014.

Cook, Mary J. Straw. Doa Tules: Santa Fes Courtesan Gambler. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2007.

Duffus, R. L. The Santa Fe Trail. New York: Tudor Publishing Co., March 1936.

Edwards, Frank S. A Campaign in New Mexico with Colonel Doniphan. London: J.S. Hodson, 1848.

Erdoes, Richard. Saloons of the Old West. Avenel, NJ: Grammercy Books, a division of Random House Value Publishing Inc., 1997.

Evans, Max. Madam Millie: Bordellos from Silver City to Ketchikan. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2002.

Florin, Lambert. Ghost Towns of the West. New York: Superior Publishing Company & Promontory Press/Galahad Books, 1971.

Foote, Cheryl J. Women of the New Mexico Frontier 18461912. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1990.

Foster, Michael S., John M. Lindley, and Ronald F. Ryden. Celestials and Soiled Doves: The Archaeology and History of Lots 49, Block 13 of Historic Prescotts Original Townsite: The Prescott City Centre Project. SWCA Cultural Resource Report No. 03-386, March 2004.

Gibson, Arrell M. The Life and Death of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.

Gonzalez, Deena. Refusing the Favor: The Spanish-Mexican Women of Santa Fe, 18201880. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Haak, W. A. Copper Bottom Tales: Historic Sketches from Gila County. Globe, AZ: Gila County Historical Society, 1991.

Jenkinson, Michael. Ghost Towns of New Mexico: Playthings of the Wind. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1967.

Johnson, Byron A., and Sharon P. Johnson. Gilded Palaces of Shame: Albuquerques Redlight Districts 18801914. Albuquerque, NM: Gilded Age Press, 1983.

Kirschner, Ann. Lady at the O.K. Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2013.

LAloge, Bob. Knights of the Sixgun: A Diary of Gunfighters, Outlaws and Villains of New Mexico. Las Cruces, NM: Yucca Tree Press 1993.

Ledbetter, Suzann. Shady Ladies: Nineteen Surprising and Rebellious American Women. New York: Forge Books, 2006.

Looney, Ralph. Haunted Highways: The Ghost Towns of New Mexico. New York: Hastings House Publishers, 1968.

MacKell, Jan. Brothels, Bordellos & Bad Girls: Prostitution in Colorado 18601930