Join us here at noon on Wednesday, March 2, to hear Scott Andrews speak about the Wisdom Archive and share some video excerpts from the archive which looks to preserve New Mexico’s vanishing cultural traditions.
Category Archives: Lectures
12th Annual Harvey Weekend happening again, Nov 12-15, 2021
The annual gathering of “FredHeads” is happening again. After a completely virtual gathering last year, this year’s event will be both in person, as well as virtually.
November 12-13:
The event kicks of at the New Mexico History Museum with docent led tours of the exhibition Setting the Standard: The Fred Harvey Co. and its Legacy and a slate of talks available in person and online on Friday and Saturday:
Best-selling author John Sedgwick and his new book “From the River to the Sea”
Q&A with the fabulous Jean Harvey Vanderbilt
“Deep Inside the Alvarado” with architect and rail historian Matt Kluge
“Insider’s Guide to Southwest Collecting” panel on collecting everything
Fred Harvey popularized in America
“Fred Harvey, Reinvented 1948-1968” the company’s postwar years explored by Daggett Harvey, Jr.
An auction and dinner will be held on Saturday Evening at La Fonda.
Remembering Steve Wimmer: Sharing memories of the longtime La Fonda concierge and Original FredHead, with an update on the new SW History Research fund created in his memory.
The Steve Wimmer Historical Research Fund for the Fray Angelico Chavez History Library at the New Mexico History was established in 2021 following Mr. Wimmer’s decease. The Fund honors Steve’s memory and enthusiasm for New Mexico history & cultural tourism which he shared with others in his role as the La Fonda Hotel’s head concierge.
November 14-15:
For in-person attendees, there will be an optional Legal Tender breakfast in Lamy 11/13, and Castaneda dinner in Las Vegas 11/14 (reservation info coming soon.)
For more information on participating in person or online, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fred-harvey-history-weekend-2021-tickets-136867762161
1st Wednesday Lecture: Pueblo Sovereignty
In this talk, Rick Hendricks, ….and former New Mexico State Historian discusses the way in which Pueblo Indians have fought to preserve tribal sovereignty as it related to issues of land and water from the Spanish Colonial Period to the present day.
Case studies of five pueblos will be examined, four in New Mexico and one in Texas: Pojoaque, Nambe, Tesuque, Isleta, and Ysleta del Sur.
Rick Hendricks, is the New Mexico state records administrator. He is a former state historian and editor of the Vargas Project at the University of New Mexico. He has written extensively on the history of the American Southwest and Mexico. His most recent book, Pueblo Indian Sovereignty: Land and Water in New Mexico and Texas, was coauthored with Malcolm Ebright and published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2019.
Friends of History is a volunteer support group for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its mission is to raise funds and public awareness for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs. Friends of History fulfills its mission by offering high quality public history programs, including the First Wednesday Lecture Series. For more information, or to join the Friends of History, go to friendsofhistorynm.org.
Visit the history museum at nmhistorymuseum.org
1st Weds Lecture – Home on the Range: From Ranches to Rockets
Leah F. Tookey, Curator of History at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, joins us for our May lecture.
At the turn of the 20th century, most of the arid land east of Las Cruces, New Mexico was ranch land. Cattle, sheep, and goat ranches filled the Tularosa Basin, the Oscuro Range, and the surrounding countryside. Most of these ranches were small privately owned pieces of land supplemented by large parcels of federal and state property which ranchers leased for grazing purposes. These self-sufficient ranchers had maintained their homes for up to fi[y years, but events taking place halfway around the world would change their lives.
This is the story of the ranchers who were forced off their beloved land and the military and defense industry that would turn it into a military complex.
Leah F. Tookey is the Curator of History at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She earned a Master’s degree in Agricultural History and Rural Studies from Iowa State University. Her job at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum involves research and writing for exhibits, maintaining the Museum’s library and archives, and too many other jobs to mention. Last year Tookey curated an exhibit called Home on the Range: From Ranches to Rockets, which she will discuss in this lecture.
Friends of History is a volunteer support group for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its mission is to raise funds and public awareness for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs. Friends of History fulfills its mission by offering high quality public history programs, including the First Wednesday Lecture Series. For more information, or to join the Friends of History, go to friendsofhistorynm.org
1st Wednesday Lecture: Hoofbeats Through History
This month, Cynthia Culbertson joins us to share the unique history of the horse in New Mexico.
When we think of New Mexico history we sometimes forget that the humans in the narrative have often been dependent on their equine companions. The influence of New Mexico on the history of the horse in the Americas is both fascinating and profound. From the pre-historic ancestors of the horse found here millions of years ago, the first horse breeding and racing in the Americas, the introduction of the horse to Native Americans and the subsequent development of some of the greatest horse cultures in history, New Mexico is arguably the most significant state when it comes to the history of the horse in the U.S. A horse lover since birth, Cynthia Culbertson is proud to have served as a consultant for multiple museum exhibitions featuring horses. She served as co-curator of an exhibition at the International Museum of the Horse featuring artifacts from 27 museums around the world, including such prestigious institutions as the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has also served as a consultant for the equine components of many other projects, including a UNESCO World Heritage museum. Cynthia is the author of several books on the subject of Arabian horses and is a regular contributor to international equine media. She has been a lecturer in more than ten countries and has scripted and narrated multiple educational videos, including a New York Times Vision Award recipient. Friends of History is a volunteer support group for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its mission is to raise funds and public awareness for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs. Friends of History fulfills its mission by offering high quality public history programs, including the First Wednesday Lecture Series. For more information, or to join the Friends of History, go to friendsofhistorynm.org
Watch Live: Royal A. Prentice: Pioneering Archeaologist in Eastern New Mexico
Watch this month’s Friends of History 1st Lecture right here today at 12pm Mountain time. More information on the talk can be found here.
1st Weds Lecture – Royal A. Prentice: Pioneering Archaeologist in Eastern New Mexico
Neg. 006017. Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, New Mexico History Museum
| Photographer and former Rough Rider, Royal A. Prentice was also an early volunteer who contributed valuable archeological information to the Museum of New Mexico. The live presentation can be seen on YouTube and via Zoom. Richard Ford, Allison Colborne, and Gary Hein have undertaken a study of Royal A. Prentice, an early volunteer who contributed valuable archaeological information to the Museum of New Mexico in the first three decades of the 20th century. Although he published several useful research papers during those years in El Palacio, the quarterly magazine of the Museum of New Mexico, Prentice remains generally unknown today. The presentation will provide an overview of his life focusing on his archaeological research, stressing that the value of this work has earned him a well-deserved place in the history of New Mexico archaeology. Our speakers for this event are: Richard I. Ford Arthur F. Thurnau, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Botany, University of Michigan Research Associate, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Allison Colborne Librarian, Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Gary Hein Volunteer, Office of Archaeological Studies and Rock Art Rock Art Council Member, Archaeological Society of New Mexico This is the latest in the Friends of History monthly lecture series and is presented in collaboration with the Friends of Archaeology. Several of Royal A. Prentice’s photographs are currently on exhibit in our Working on the Railroad Exhibition which remains open until October of 2021. You can also visit the exhibition from home via the Virtual Version . You can view all of Prentice’s photographs in our digital collections portal. Friends of History is a volunteer support group for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its mission is to raise funds and public awareness for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs. Friends of History fulfills its mission by offering high quality public history programs, including the First Wednesday Lecture Series. For more information, or to join the Friends of History, go to friendsofhistorynm.org |
1st Wednesday Lecture Happening today at 12pm.
Our monthly history lecture presented by the Friends of History will be starting in little over an hour. Colin G. Calloway from Dartmouth will be speaking on the 1779 smallpox epidemic that devastated tribes throughout Western North America.
Upcoming 1st Weds Lecture, Feb 3, 2021
Colin G Colloway will be speaking on the impacts of the 1779 smallpox pandemic on Native American tribes throughout western North America.
Colin G. Calloway John Kimball Jr. 1943 Professor of History Professor of Native American Studies Dartmouth College.
The talk will trace the spread of the great smallpox epidemic that broke out in Mexico in 1779, traveled north to New Mexico, was transmitted from tribe to tribe across the American West, and reached eastern Canada by 1784. We will discuss its impact on Indian country and the multiple Native American communities it struck, and consider its significance for understanding the subsequent history of the United States.
Colin Calloway grew up in England and received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds. In the US, he has worked at the Center for the History of the American Indian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and taught at the University of Wyoming and Dartmouth College. He has published more than a dozen books, including One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West Before Lewis and Clark, which won six best book awards, and most recently The Indian World of George Washington, which was a National Book Award finalist and won the George Washington Prize. He has been President of the American Society for Ethnohistory and received the Western History Association’s American Indian History Lifetime Achievement Award.
Friends of History is a volunteer support group for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its mission is to raise funds and public awareness for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs. Friends of History fulfills its mission by offering high quality public history programs, including the First Wednesday Lecture Series. For more information, or to join the Friends of History, go to friendsofhistorynm.org
1st Wednesday Lecture – Dave DeWitt: Chile Peppers: A Global History
Dave DeWitt joined us for January’s Friends of History 1st Wednesday Lecture to discuss how he earned the name “Pope of Peppers” and his new book that charts the spread of chile peppers throughout the world.
The Museum’s Friends of History group organizes a monthly lecture on New Mexico history by a historian, held on the the first Wednesday of each month. Informative/Promotional Text we are adding to FoH related online postings/Lecture descriptions: Friends of History is a volunteer support group for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its mission is to raise funds and public awareness for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs. Friends of History fulfills its mission by offering high quality public history programs, including the First Wednesday Lecture Series. For more information, or to join the Friends of History, go to friendsofhistorynm.org