Call for Presentations!

REQUEST FOR PRESENTATIONS

“THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW MEXICO HISTORY: THE IMPACT OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST AND COLONIAL PERIOD IN NEW MEXICO AND THE SOUTHWEST”

The Western Heritage Museum Complex and New Mexico Junior College are inviting scholars to participate in an International Symposia exploring, “The Beginnings of New Mexico History: The Impact of the Spanish Conquest and Colonial Period in New Mexico and the Southwest” to be held January 12 – 15, 2012, sponsored and supported by numerous organizations such as the New Mexico Humanities Council, the Historical Society of New Mexico, the New Mexico Archaeological Council, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, the New Mexico Statehood Centennial Committee, the New Mexico Arts Council, the New Mexico State Museum, the Office of the State Historian, the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives and other regional and local governmental and commercial entities and foundations, individuals and special interest groups who wish to support the project.

This would be the third in a series that started in April 2000, with Richard and Shirley Flint at New Mexico Highlands University, “The Contemporary Vantage on the Coronado Expedition Through Documents and Artifacts” and followed by, “Museum Interpretation of the Spanish Colonial Period, 1492 – 1836” at Baylor University in Waco, Texas in November 2002. Without an understanding of the history prior to Statehood there is little likelihood that the participants in the Centennial celebrations will fully appreciate the importance of the event. Based on the success of the previous convocations this meeting would present newly researched material covering the archaeological evidence, flora, fauna, music, art, cultural material, architecture, clothing and textiles, medicine and disease, transportation, military aspects, law, theology and cosmology, historiography and other subjects as they relate to the “Contact” experience.

Documents are currently being reviewed and translated that give us insights into the complexity and events involved in establishing a presence in the New World and the resulting clash of cultures, especially as the indigenous peoples encountered a new philosophy and belief system about the land and its use and the church and its baptisms, marriages, burials, wills and property transfers as well as the physical and social elements that challenged both the Native Americans and the immigrant colonialists. The reasons to include discussions about acculturation, assimilation and adaptation become imperative if we are to better understand all of our various heritages.

Already scheduled is an outstanding exhibition of prints from copper etchings by Floyd Solomon, a Pueblo artist, who captured the oral traditions of the elders from a majority of the Pueblo groups about the first encounters between the Native Americans and the Europeans. “This is one of the most emotional, powerful and challenging exhibits I‘ve put up during the last 40 years in this business”, Calvin Smith, organizer and Executive Director of the Western Heritage Museum Complex.

Please contact us with proposals for papers, demonstrations, poster sessions and/or cultural traditions that would enhance our understanding of the beginning of history in New Mexico and the Southwest.

Calvin B. Smith, Executive Director

Western Heritage Museum Complex New Mexico Junior College

5317 Lovington Highway

Hobbs, NM 88240

575.492.2676 office

csmith@nmjc.edu