Writing a biography of Quincy Tahoma took a lot of research verging on detective work. We started our research with questions.
- Where was Quincy Tahoma born?
- What was his clan?
- Were any of his family members still living?
- Was he, in fact, adopted, and if so, why?
- What caused the injury to his arm that many people mentioned?
- What did he do during World War II? (Many biographical sketches said he served in the armed forces, and some even said he was a Code Talker.)
- Why did he die so young?
- Where is he buried?
- Where are his paintings today?
- Why did he go from Arizona to Santa Fe for school?
- Who were his friends? Did he ever marry?
- Who influenced his painting?
- Where did he live during his life? Where did he travel?
- Did he ever return to the Navajo reservation?
Some questions were quickly answered, but we tried to verify from more than one source. Every time we found an answer to a question, we found more questions. And we found no answers at all for some questions.
But what we did find amazed and delighted us. We never dreamed that we would find so many people who knew Tahoma personally, or that children and nieces and nephews of people who knew him would be able to tell us stories passed down through their families.
If you continue to read these pages, you will see where we went to find answers and you will have an opportunity to help us answer more questions. And any time that YOU have a questions, please ask. We’ll be happy to try to answer.
In order to keep track of the entire journey, we encourage you to subscribe to the blog by RSS feed or by e-mail. And do tell your friends, won’t you?
