Afternoon talk on August 8th: "Potsherds of Poverty: A Material History of Poverty and Migration to Mexico City in the Mid-Twentieth Century"

Join us for an afternoon presentation from Joshua K. Salyers, University of Arizona, "Potsherds of Poverty: A Material History of Poverty and Migration to Mexico City in the Mid-Twentieth Century".

Time: 1:30 p.m. on August 8^th

Place: Lyceum at the Center of Southwest Studies

Joshua Salyers  will share his approach for his dissertation research on the material history of the poor and migration of families into Mexico City during the middle decades of the twentieth century.  Mr. Salyers is a doctoral student in the Department of History at the University of Arizona and is currently working with the Center of Southwest Studies archives personnel to improve researchers’ access to the oral history collections held by the Center.  He will return to his research in Mexico City later in the coming academic year.

Member's only tour to Silverton!

Summer Benefit Party at the Rochester Hotel and Bar

Come join the party! Join us at the Rochester Hotel and Bar on Thursday, July 25th from 5:00-7:30 pm for cash bar, light appetizers and music by Robby Overfield. This event is free and open to the public. Please consider a membership or donation to the Center.
Co-sponsorship by

Music in the Mountains pre-concert lecture

Dr. Linda Mack Berven will discuss the composers and give insight on the evening's Music in the Mountains concert, Dramatic Passage on Sunday, July 21 from 4:30 – 5:15 p.m. in the Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum room.

Celebrate the summer solstice at the Center!

The Center of Southwest Studies

celebrates the Summer Solstice on Friday, June 21^st. Doors open at 6:00AM. At the dawn of the summer solstice, a spiral of sunlight makes its way across the gallery walls making for a dazzling display. In our annual celebration of summer, the Center of Southwest Studies will provide a light breakfast and music. This event is open to the public, with free admission and parking.

Situated in the upper northeast corner of the exhibit gallery, the Solstice Window is recessed into the wall. Created by Denver artist Scott Parsons as a part of Colorado’s Art in Public Places Program, the window was integrated into the building’s architecture. Parsons designed the window in tribute to the solstice markers of the Ancestral Puebloans of Southwest Colorado. The spiral cast by the Solstice Window is visible for several weeks before and after the summer solstice, but it is sharpest on solstice morning. Moving with the motion of the earth and sun, the spiral makes its journey across the gallery wall, fading as the sun rises higher in the sky. 

Photograph by John Ninnemann

A few spots still available for this Friday's Harris Cabin tour

The Durango Collection® is featured at an exhibit at the Wheelright Museum

The Durango Collection®: Native American Weaving in the Southwest, 1860-1880 exhibit opened at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Saturday, May 11. As expressed by the Center's curator, Jeanne Brako,“A lot of what the exhibit is about is the cross-cultural issues with weaving in the Southwest.” To learn more about this exhibit, read the review in The New Mexican's Weekly Magazine of Arts, Entertainment & Culture, Pasatiempo: Looming large: the weaving tradition of the American Southwest.

This exhibit will remain up through April 13, 2014.

 

A Movie Review from the Delaney Library: Dreamkeeper

In Dreamkeeper by director Steve Barron and writer John Fusco, a grandson learns the ways of life through the stories told to him by his grandfather. This coming of age story was well-received by Native American critics and won the American Indian Movie Award for best film. Dreamkeeper was made for TV in 2003, with visual effects that may remind you of a movie from the 90’s. However, the stories told have meaningful lessons, and the movie represents several distinct tribes and claims to have consulted with tribal members for authentic representation - including Lakota, Cheyenne, and Crow – rather than lumping all Native Americans into one group.

Review by student worker Tia Flippin

Join us for a tour of the historic Harris Cabin

A New Book at Delnaey Library: New Mexico’s Spanish Livestock Heritage Four Centuries of Animals, Land, and People

In New Mexico’s Spanish Livestock Heritage Four Centuries of Animals, Land, and People, William W. Dunmire presents New Mexico’s agricultural history as the basis for its present day culture and agricultural way of life. The author gives a vivid and detailed description on New Mexican culture - past and present - and explains the impact of the Spanish bringing new animals to live in the New Mexico area in the early years. This book will be of interest to anyone wanting to gain knowledge of New Mexico history and culture, particularly in the livestock and agriculture of the Southwest region.

 Review by student worker Stone Tighe

Center of Southwest Studies to host local author Erica Olsen

The Center is proud to host Erica Olsen, who will read from her book “Recapture,” and will share in dialogue with the audience on Thursday, May 2^nd at 6:00pm in the Lyceum room. A wine and cheese reception with the author will kick off at 5:00pm in the Center's lobby. Please join us for this finale spring series event!

New Acquisition on the Coronado Expedition: The Coronado Expedition From the Distance of 460 Years

The Coronado Expedition From the Distance of 460 Years, by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint consists of a collection of essays following the Coronado expedition based on known and previously unstudied documentation. The authors attempt to create a full picture of the Coronado expedition by assembling select puzzle pieces. This is a straight forward book that runs through the course of events of the expedition. This is a great book for anyone researching the Coronado expedition or Spanish arrival in North America. While full of factual detail, very little is embellished upon to create a sense of emersion into the story, so it is not recommended for the casual reader.

Review by student worker Tia Flippin

Summer Events at the Center

New Acquisition in the Library: Challenging National Identities at the Frontier: Texas and New Mexico, 1800-1850

This newly acquired book helps to round out the core collection at Delaney Library by doing exactly as the title describes. Below is a short review provided by student worker Arielle Liakat:

Andres Resendez gives the reader an interesting lens to read and learn about the years leading up to the Mexican-American War in his book, Challenging National Identities at the Frontier: Texas and New Mexico, 1800-1850. Resendez challenges traditional histories of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, which assume frontier residents had clear national loyalties. Rather, Resendez tells the reader that in reality, the U.S.-Mexico borderlands were a changing landscape of identities. Through the examination of complex and overlapping identities, we gain a new knowledge of the borderlands and the events leading to Mexico’s far north becoming a part of the American Southwest.

Center hosts panel on "Learning Through Discovery"

Center to host panel on innovations in tribal education

The Center of Southwest Studies will host a panel discussion, “Innovations in Tribal Education: Community and Classroom Advances,” on Tuesday, March 26^th at 6:00pm. Panelists will share recent improvements and emerging innovations in regional tribal education. Participants include representatives from Diné College, the Southern Ute Education Department, the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum, the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs and Fort Lewis College. This event is free and open to the public, and will be held in the Center’s Lyceum Room. 

American Indian Horse Masks: A Book Review from Delaney Library

American Indian Horse Masks by authors Mike Cowdrey, Ned Martin, Jody Martin, and Winfield Coleman, is a colorful book with over 200 illustrations of horse masks, primarily from the 19^th century. The symbolism of the horse mask and the decoration and painting of horses during times of war and times of celebration is explored through detailed pictures and descriptions. Horse masks of various Native American plains tribes, as well as the Apache and Pueblo tribes of the Southwest, are represented. The authors explain that the people of Native North America observed Spanish-armored horses, which led to their own creative uses and implementation of horse armor. The book is divided by geographical region, and the photographs are well-positioned to prompt explanation and interpretation. American Indian Horse Masks was produced in conjunction with the Smithsonian exhibition A Song for the Horse Nation, which included interviews from local Navajos, examples of horse gear, and other remarkable artifacts. Patrons interested in this book may also enjoy They Sang for Horses: the Impact of the Horse on Navajo & Apache Folklore.

This book review was written by student worker Tia Flippin.

Blood and Thunder: A Book Review from the Delaney Library Collection

This book review by library student worker Arielle Liakat is on a historical work that investigates the life of one of the West’s most well-known figures, Kit Carson:

Hampton Sides magnificently details the history of westward expansion in his epic book on the American West, Blood and Thunder. In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West was ferociously driven by the Manifest Destiny ideology. They rode through Santa Fe on one of the longest marches in American military history and continued their conquest of other Western territories. This march led to two decades of resistance by the Navajos against these “blue suited, New Men.” At the center of this tale, we come to understand the life and times of Kit Carson - trapper, scout, soldier, and frontiersman of the American West. Sides shows us that Carson, who was an illiterate mountain man - while credited with understanding and respecting Native American people better than any other American of his time - was still willing to follow army orders at the cost of many Native American lives. Blood and Thunder is an eloquently told tale of a controversial man and times of turmoil in the history of the American West.

Financial Aid information session hosted by the CSWS on March 12th

Spring Break closure week of March 4-8

The Center of Southwest Studies will be closed for Spring Break the week of March 4-8, returning to normal operations on Monday, March 11th.

Happy spring!