Local artist Talaina Kor now has her work featured in the newspaper exhibit at the Navajo County Historical Museum in Holbrook, as part of the display honoring the Barger family’s contribution to providing news to central Navajo County for 55 years.
Paul and June Barger purchased The Holbrook Tribune in 1969 as well as the Winslow Mail and the Snowflake Herald (which later became the Silver Creek Herald). When Paul passed, his son Matthew Barger and his wife Debbie continued with ownership of the paper, which eventually became The Tribune with the Winslow Mail and Silver Creek Herald no longer in publication. The Bargers sold the newspaper in 2024, to Shawn White who changed the name to The Painted Desert Tribune.
Kor began working for the Bargers at the age of 13, when, as a budding young photographer, the Bargers along with then editor Francie Payne gave Kor her first camera with her payment provided through photos that were published in the paper. Since then, Kor has honed her skills as a photo manipulation artist and has been featured in numerous magazines and exhibits. She has also continued as a part time reporter for the publication.
The photo, The Significance of History, was created by Kor in 2015 and kept in storage by Matthew Barger until recently, when he donated it to the museum. Each facet of the photo contains a nod to the history of the newspaper. Kor is pictured in the artwork holding the first edition of the paper printed in 1909, which melds into the current edition at the time the photo was created. It features the typewriter used by Paul, the fan used by June and the desk and chair that belonged to Kor’s great-grandfather Bill Williams who operated a Snowflake paper in the 1950s.
The photo is now on display on the second-floor exhibit in the museum, along with other mementos from the publication. The museum itself features over 70 exhibits and is free to the public. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday and is located at 100 E. Arizona St., in Holbrook.
