CULTURAL LIVING
Susan Ricci managed a tribal history museum in her home state of South Dakota, so it was natural for her to want to create an exhibit for the O’odham-Piipaash people when she became executive director of the Mesa Historical Museum three years ago. “When I got here, I felt there was a huge component missing—there was nothing about our O’odham-Piipaash neighbors. I wanted to change that,” said Susan. “So many people don’t even realize that Pima and Maricopa are not the real names of the people. 16 WINTER 2023
I wanted to tell the story from their perspective.” Susan did some research and was ready to reach out to the community, but the pandemic put the project on the back burner. As things began to open up again in early 2022, Susan reached out to SRPMIC Cultural Resources Director Kelly Washington. “I was thrilled with the idea. I had a connection to the building the museum is in—I went to school at the old Lehi elementary school until second grade,” said Kelly. “I wanted to make
