"Telling New Mexico: A New History" Wins Book Award
Karen Wentworth
A book of essays about the history of New Mexico has won a national award from The American Association for State and Local History. Regents Professor of Anthropology Marta Weigle, New Mexico History Museum Director Frances Levine, and UNM alumni Louise ...
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UNM Newsroom
A book of essays about the history of New Mexico has won a national award from The American Association for State and Local History. Regents Professor of Anthropology Marta Weigle, New Mexico History Museum Director Frances Levine, and UNM alumni Louise Stiver received an Award of Merit from the AASLH Leadership in History Awards, the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.

Weigle says this history of New Mexico is a collection of many voices who talk about events from a variety of angles. The essay contributors from UNM include:

Durwood Ball an associate professor of history at UNM and editor of the New Mexico Historical Review also wrote "Army Regulars on the Western Frontier, 1848-1861" and has published numerous articles on frontier military history.

Margaret Connell-Szasz a professor of history at UNM is widely published in American Indian history. Her latest book is Scottish Highlanders and Native Americans: Indigenous Education in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World."

Jennifer Nez Denetdale is a professor of American Studies at UNM, and author of "Reclaiming Dine History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita." She is working on a history of Navajo women.

John Kellell is a professor emeritus in the UNM Department of History. He is the author of "Kiva, Cross and Crown: The Pecos Indians and New Mexico, 1540 -1840: and "Spain in the Southwest: A Narrative History of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and California."

Alphonso Ortiz was a professor in the Department of Anthropology at UNM until his death in 1997. Among his books are "The Tewa World: Space, Time, Being and Becoming in a Pueblo Society, and the two Southwest volumes of the "Handbook of North American Indians."

Sylvia Rodríguez is a professor of Anthropology at UNM and is the author of "The Matachines Dance: Ritual Symbolism and Interethnic Relations in the Upper Rio Grande Valley," and "Acequia: Water Sharing, Sanctity and Place."

Joe S. Sando is a well known writer on Indian history. Sando has taught Pueblo history at UNM and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.

Rina Swentzell from Santa Clara Pueblo has taught culture and architecture in the Native American context at the School of Architecture and Planning at UNM.

Ferenc M. Szasz was a Regents Professor in the Department of History as UNM where he taught for more than three decades. He wrote or edited nearly one hundred articles and eleven books. "The Day the Sun Rose Twice: The Story of the Trinity Site Nuclear Explosion, July 16, 1945 is probably his best know work. His last book is a collection of essays, "Larger than Life: New Mexico in the Twentieth Century."

Marta Weigle is a University Regents Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UNM. Among her New Mexico books are "Brothers of Light, Brothers of Blood: The Penitentes of the Southwest;" "Santa Fe and Taos: The Writer's Era, 1916-1941" (with Kyle Fiore), "New Mexicans in Cameo and Camera: New Deal Documentation of Twentieth-Century Lives," "The Lore of New Mexico" (with Peter White); and "Spanish New Mexico: The Spanish Colonial Arts Society Collection" (with Donna Pierce).

Other contributors include:

Herman Agoyo is a member of the San Juan Pueblo Tribal Council who has held many offices at the pueblo including governor and lt. governor. He has also chaired the All Indian Pueblo Council and has published poetry and a number of articles.

Paula Gunn Allen was an award winning American Indian poet, novelist and scholar. Among her scholarly books are "Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs" and "The Sacred Hoop" Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions."

Thomas E. Chávez is the former director of the Palace of the Governors, and author of numerous books including "Manuel Alvarez, 1794-1856," "A Southwestern Biography: An Illustrated History of New Mexico; Spain and the Independence of the United States," "An Intrinsic Gift: Wake for a Fat Vicar, "and "Padre Juan Felipe Ortiz, Archbishop Lama and the New Mexican Catholic Church in the Middle Nineteenth Century."

Larry S. Crumpler has published numerous research papers about volcanic fields in New Mexico and Arizona, and on the volcanoes of Mars and Venus. He has been research curator of volcanology and space science at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

William deBuys teaches documentary studies at the College of Santa Fe and is the author of six books including "Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range" and "River of Traps: A New Mexico Mountain Life."

Sarah Deutsch is a professor of history and dean on the faculty of Social Sciences at Duke University. She has written a number of book and book chapters on the North American West including "No Separate Refuge: Culture, Class and Gender on an Anglo-Hispanic Frontier in the American Southwest, 1880-1940."

Roland F. Dickey is the past president of the Historical Society of New Mexico and the Albuquerque Historical Society. "Windscapes: Chronicles of Neglected Time" was one of several columns Dickey wrote for "Century: A Southwest Journal of Observation and Opinion."

Malcolm Ebright is a historian, an attorney and director of the Center for Land Grant Studies. His most recent book (with Rick Hendricks) "The Witches of Abiquiú: The Governor, the Priest, the Genizaro Indians and the Devil" shared a prize for the best history book in 2006 from the Historical Society of New Mexico.

William E. Gibbs taught history at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico for more than fifteen years. He is the author of several articles on the influence of race and ethnicity on U.S. foreign relations, a subject of special interest.

Daniel Gibson writes for national magazines. He wrote his essay published in "Telling New Mexico: A New History" while working for the New Mexico Office of Indian Affairs.

Rick Hendricks is the state historian for New Mexico. He has written a number of books including "The Witches of Abiquiu: The Governor, the Priest, the Genizaro Indians, and the Devil" (with Malcolm Ebright), "New Mexico Prenuptial Investigations from the Archivos Históricos del Arzobispado de Durango" (with John B. Colligan) and "The Navajos in 1705: Roque Madrid's Campaign Journal" (with John P. Wilson).

Debra Hughes is a writer and editor who makes her home in Tucson, Arizona.

Jon Hunner is the director of the Public History Program at New Mexico State University. Among his books are "Inventing Los Alamos: The Growth of an Atomic Community" and two co-authored volumes in the Images of America series, "Las Cruces and Santa Fe: A Historical Walking Tour."

Peter Iverson is a Regent's Professor of History emeritus at Arizona State University, and a leading scholar of twentieth century American Indian history.

Oakah L. Jones is a professor emeritus of history at Purdue University, who resides in Albuquerque. He is the author of five books, and numerous articles and book reviews.

Paul M. Jones was the author and publisher of a book, "Memories of Santa Rita" and was a World War II veteran, having served with the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet.

Tom R. Kennedy is the director of the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center and director of the Zuni Tourism Office. His current responsibilities include restoration and interpretation of key heritage sites, among them Our Lady of Guadalupe (Old Zuni) Mission and the Hawikku archaeological site.

Frances Levine is the director of the New Mexico History Museum, which includes the Palace of the Governors, and the Fray Angelico Chávez History Library and Photo Archives. She is the author of "Our Prayers Are in This Place: Pecos Pueblo Identity over the Centuries."

Haniel Long taught English for twenty years at Carnegie Institute of Technology before moving to Santa Fe in 1929. He joined with Alice Corbin, Peggy Pond Church and Raymond Otis to found Writer's Edition, a cooperative to "publish good books that otherwise might not see the light of day." Long wrote "Interlinear to Cabeza de Vaca: His Relation of the Journey from Florida to the Pacific 1528-1536" and "Maninche (Doña Marina).

María Cristina López taught Spanish language and literature and heritage Spanish at Santa Fe Community College. She chairs the City of Santa Fe Commission on Immigrant Affairs.

María E. Montoya is an associate professor of History and director of Latino/a Studies in the Program of American Culture at the University of Michigan. She is the author of "Translating Property: The Maxwell Land Grant and the Conflict over Land in the American West, 1840-1900."

John M. Nieto-Phillips is an associate professor of History and Latino Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Gail Okawa is a professor of English at Youngstown State University, Ohio where she teaches courses in multicultural literature and sociolinguistics. She has been researching the experiences of Japanese internees from Hawaii exiled during World War II to U.S. Department of Justice internment camps on the mainland, including in Santa Fe. She is writing a book on the subject, tentatively titled "More than a Mug Shot: Hawaiian Japanese Immigrants in World War II U.S. Department of Justice Internment Camps."

Michael L. Olsen is a professor emeritus at New Mexico Highlands University. He has published widely on the history of the Santa Fe Trail, with a special focus on its social and cultural aspects.

Jake Page has written Smithsonian Institution books "Lords of the Air: The Smithsonian Book of Birds" and "Smithsonian's New Zoo."

Estevan Rael-Gálvez is working on a book, "The Silence of Slavery: Narratives of American Indians and Mexican Servitude and its Legacy."

Lois Palken Rudnick is the former director of the American Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is the author of "Mabel Dodge Luhan: New Woman, New Worlds," "Utopian Vistas: The Mabel Dodge Luhan House and the American Counterculture."

Jason Silverman is an award winning journalist who has written for "Wired" magazine, the "Austin Chronicle," the "Santa Fean," "Time Out New York," "Southwest Art," and "Utne Reader."

Marc Simmons is an author and historian who has published more than forty books on New Mexico and the American Southwest. His popular "Train Dust" column is syndicated in several regional newspapers.

Dan Simplicio currently teaches Zuni language and culture at Twin Buttes High School on the Zuni reservation. He was a long time member of the Zuni Tribal Council.

Michael Stevenson has been a member of the Museum of New Mexico Board of Regents and a trustee of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation. He retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory as associate director for energy and environment in 2993.

Louise Stiver is senior curator at the New Mexico History Museum. She is the author of many published articles about Native American material culture and was photo editor of New Mexico Route 66 on Tour: Legendary Architecture from Glenrio to Gallup.

Veronica E. Velarde Tiller holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of New Mexico. In 2000, she owned a consulting firm in Albuquerque.

Robert J. Tórrez served as historian for the State of New Mexico until his retirement. A compilation of his columns has been published as "UFOs over Galesteo and Other Stories of New Mexico's History." His most recent book is "New Mexico in 1876-1877: A Newspaperman's View.

William Wroth is a cultural historian who specializes in Hispanic and Native American cultures of the Southwest and Mexico. Among his books are "The Chapel of Our Lady of Talpa," "Images of Penance," "Images of Mercy: Southwestern Santos in the Late Nineteenth Century," and "Ute Indian Arts and Culture from Prehistory to the New Millennium."

The American Association for State and Local History is a not-for-profit professional organization of individuals and institutions working to preserve and promote history.

Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu