In the September issue of Arizona Highways, we told you about George Alexander Grant, the first chief photographer of the National Park Service. He's the subject of Landscapes for the People, a book by Ren and Helen Davis that was published last year — and recently won a national award.
We spoke with the Davises via email and learned that Landscapes for the People received the American Library Association's INDIEFAB Gold Medal for the best photography book published in 2015 by an independent or academic press. You can read more about that award and other honorees at this link.
Arizona Highways published four of Grant's photos from the book in the September issue. Those were among 3,000 contact prints that the Davises reviewed, 700 of which were scanned for the project.
We also spoke with the Davises about an apparent discrepancy with one of the photos we published. While the Park Service indicates that Grant's photo of Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson was made during an expedition to the area in 1935, the cars in the photo appear to be from the late 1930s and early 1940s. Several Arizona Highways readers emailed us to point out the discrepancy.
The Davises say Grant traveled to the area again in 1941 to document Arizona missions, so the photo may have been made then and erroneously catalogued with his earlier work. They say they'll update the photo's caption for future editions of the book.
To learn more about Ren and Helen Davis, visit their website.