New Mexico Historic Sites

05/09/2020

05/09/2020

Week 4.5 Facebook Live for Book Club

Just a reminder that TODAY (5/9/20) at 10am we are having a Facebook Live Book Club for "The Girl Who chased Away Sorrow".
This week is a little different. We will be going over the first half of the book and have to opportunity to discuss any comments or questions from any of the previous sections that participants may have.

Join Historic Site Ranger Rebekha Crockett from Fort Sumner Historic Site/Bosque Redondo Memorial to share your thoughts and questions!

We will try to live stream on both our site page as well as the New Mexico Historic Sites Page. However, if there are any issues, we will be on the New Mexico Historic Sites Page: https://www.facebook.com/NewMexicoHistoricSites/

05/07/2020

The Delegation (That Never Was)
by Rebekha C. Crockett

This week we share a request by General James H. Carleton to send a delegation of Dine (Navajo) and N’de (Mescalero Apache) leaders to Washington D.C. to meet with the President and other high ranking government Officials. This proposed trip has sparked over a century of confusion among historians who have often mistaken this trip for the actual trip that occurred on September 15th, 1867to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We also share Carleton’s reasoning for the proposed trip and other interesting details regarding the request to send a Delegation to D.C.

On May 8, 1865 General Carleton proposed to the Adjutant General of the Army in Washington the following:
“I am anxious that some 5 or 6 of the principal chiefs of the Navajo nation of Indians, and some 3 or 4 of the principal men of the Mescalero Apache Indians, from the 9000 of these 2 people now upon the reservation at the Bosque Redondo, New Mexico, should go to Washington to see and talk with the President, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Interior. They are very anxious, themselves, to go, and I am confident that for them to see our authorities and to see our country en route to the seat of government, will have a beneficial result. I respectfully beg leave from the War Department to send them on under the charge of Captain Henry B. Bristol, United States 5th Infantry, who has for a long time been stationed in their midst, has directed their labors, settled their little differences, has taken uncommon interest in their welfare and advancement, and whom they look upon with great affection and confidence. This can be done with but a trifling expense, as they can go to Leavenworth in public wagons, I trust the honorable Secretary will be pleased to know that they wish to see him and to take him by the hand. He cannot fail to have his feelings interested in their behalf, once he has seen what intelligent and manly fellows they are. And once they know that the heads of the government take an earnest interest in their welfare, and are disposed to be generous to them and their people, they will return satisfied and happy”

This meeting between the heads of the U.S. Government and the leaders of the Dine and N’de did not come to fruition during the existence of the Bosque Redondo Reservation. What ultimately came to pass was a trip to Santa Fe on September 15th, 1867 organized by Superintendent of Indian affairs, A. Baldwin Norton. However, a delegation of Dine did travel to Washington D.C. in 1874, years after the Dine had returned to their homeland, Dinetah, where a new reservation was designated for the tribe in the treaty of 1868. Interestingly, in 1874, a key member and only woman in the delegation was Juanita, chief Manuelito’s wife, who is known to have been an important leader among the Dine in her own right.
Probably due in part to the multiple requests made by General James H. Carleton for such a trip in addition to other factors, it has been falsely stated in many well researched and otherwise accurate books and articles on the subject that the trip (or an equivalent trip) was made in the 1860s. The source of the specific error (that a delegation of Dine leaders travelled to Washington DC in the 1860s) is not completely clear but none cite a specific firsthand document, all instead site other historians. There is no indication that this trip to Washington D.C. occurred at this time. This error has become widespread and very common. As well, the cited photo (1874 photo) is often mistaken as the Peace Commission of 1868 when the treaty establishing the reservation in what we know today as the Four Corners in the Navajo homeland, Dinetah which eventually expanded into the Navajo Nation as we know it today. The treaty of 1868 was signed at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

It is interesting to note that, in other letters, Carleton makes it more explicit that he hoped that the impressiveness of the United States would intimidate the tribal leaders and make them more compliant and that the meeting would encourage the Federal Government, in particular the Department of the Interior, to take over financial responsibility for the Reservation he had established. The cost of feeding even partial rations to the 10,000 captives cost many times more than Carleton had promised would be spent. Carleton had also claimed the Reservation would become self sufficient in one or two years time, but, despite intense labor, the crops failed and no progress had been made towards that goal. Because of this, Carleton desperately wanted the Department of the Interior to take over responsibility for the Dine and N’de he had relocated to a barren and isolated reservation.

05/06/2020

Learn about the field of archaeology and do some fun cookie excavation in today's Virtual Classroom from Fort Selden Historic Site!
http://nmhistoricsites.org/virtual-classroom/fort-selden-virtual-classroom/kids-archaeology-cookie-excavating

05/06/2020

First Wednesday Lecture with Drew Gomber

First Wednesday Lecture with Drew Gomber

05/06/2020

UPDATE! ‼️📢

There was an error in the original post related to the virtual program scheduled for today. The live question and answer program with author and Historian Drew Gomber will begin at 12 PM MST. Apologies for any confusion. 

05/05/2020

05/02/2020

Big Bird Visits Navajo Country

Story Time: Big Bird Visits Navajo Country

"Big Bird Visits Navajo Country" (1992) is written by Liza Alexander, illustrated by Maggie Swanson, and is a Sesame Street Golden Books.
In this story, Big Bird visits the Navajo nation and stays with his pen-pal Joey and his family.

05/02/2020

05/02/2020

Week 4 Facebook Live for Book Club

Just a reminder that TODAY (5/2/20) at 10am we are having our fourth Facebook Live Book Club for "The Girl Who chased Away Sorrow". Join Historic Site Ranger Rebekha Crockett from Fort Sumner Historic Site/Bosque Redondo Memorial to share your thoughts and questions!

We will try to live stream on both our site page as well as the New Mexico Historic Sites Page. However, if there are any issues, we will be on the New Mexico Historic Sites Page: https://www.facebook.com/NewMexicoHistoricSites/

05/02/2020

Our Fair New Mexico Virtual Concert Featuring Marlon Magdalena

The fourth performance of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs "Our Fair New Mexico" virtual concert series features Native American flute artist, educator, and performer Marlon Magdalena of Jemez Pueblo. Hosted by New Mexico Historic Sites in conjunction with Jemez Historic Site, the concert will premiere on the Historic Sites page at 7 pm on Friday, May 1, 2020.

The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), in partnership with state museums, historic sites, and cultural institutions, is excited to continue its weekly virtual concert series with musicians living in New Mexico.

04/30/2020

Book Club Week 4: The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow

Book Club Week 4: The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow

The fourth installment of our online book club. Pages 61-80 This activity is aimed at students in grades 5-8th but anyone who is interested in the material is welcome to join.

The book is: The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: The Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl, New Mexico, 1864 (written by Ann Turner). It is available to read free online (see links below)

The Ranger will assign students approximately 20 pages to read for the week and will provide questions regarding the reading. Every Saturday at 10am the Ranger will host a Facebook Live event. Students will be asked to answer in the comments and ask their own question. They should then try to answer another person’s question. The Ranger will discuss the answers on the livestream and in the comments.

This reading activity is informal, not a lesson plan, so students and families should feel free to participate to whatever extent they like. The book is available for free online, just follow the links below to learn how to access it.

Video on how to access online books: https://youtu.be/E8ykA2h6npA
Free book access at: https://archive.org/

The questions for this Saturday are:
-What are the two bad things that happen on the same day?
-What does High Jumper do when the soldiers cut down the peach trees? Was it a good or a bad idea? What does Sarah think about it?
-How does Sarah convince High Jumper to surrender? What do you think would have happened if he didn’t?
-What do the soldiers not like the people doing? What happens to aunt?

04/30/2020

“The country which the Navajos inhabited, is necessary to the white man”
by Rebekha C. Crockett

Newspapers provide insights into the different ideas and arguments among New Mexicans regarding the U.S. Indian Policy during this time in history. Today we present an article titled “the Navajoes”, published in the Santa Fe New Mexican on April 21, 1868, in which the Newspaper celebrates the anticipated closing of Bosque Redondo and relocation of the Dine (Navajo). However, the article also recommends against the establishment of a Reservation in the ancestral homeland of the tribe because it was believed that depredations would continue. In this article, the Santa Few New Mexican editorialized:

“From the first step taken by General Carleton, to place the Navajo Indians upon… the Bosque, we have dissented, and we have never ceased our opposition to so palpable a violation of all nature and humanity as that of keeping 8,000 or 10,000 Indians at the point named. This opposition to Carleton’s plan of dealing with those Indians, which could have had but one sole purpose—that of private advantage—has, at one time and another, brought down upon our heads any amount of anathema, civil and military. But we have persevered in what we earnestly conceived to be right in our hostility to the disposition of those Indians by Carleton, and we are rewarded now, by the knowledge that the popular commander of this department concurs with us in our views, and that congress has been brought to see the subject in the light in which we presented it years ago, and have continued to do up to this day. Congress is about to appropriate $150,000 to remove the Navajos from the Bosque, to some other and more healthy and rational locality. This is right and as it should be. Where those Indians now are, although they might have been made self-sustaining years ago in almost any other locality, they cannot support themselves, nor do they possess even the 2 most essential elements of life in any reasonable measure—wood and water. The former is far distant, and the latter is impure and unhealthy—being strongly impregnated with alkali. Nor is this all—the land at and around the Bosque lacks the essential elements of fertility, and those Indians who are naturally and to a great extent, an agricultural and pastoral people, have been unable to secure to themselves, of themselves, the material essentials of life at the Bosque. The Indian Peace Commissioners, we understand, are soon to be here. They will doubtless discover, at a glance, the bad policy which has for years been observed in keeping those Indians at the Bosque, and will also undoubtedly make some arrangement for their being removed to some healthy and fertile section, where they may pursue agriculture and pasturage, as well as their peculiar and valuable manufactures, in a manner suited to their tastes and nature. We observe in reading the recent debate in the Senate of the United States, that some of the senators seem to desire and think, that the Navajos should be permitted to settle upon their old lands; that the region from which they have for hundreds of years made war upon their civilized neighbors, should be given to them for their future home. This is an entirely erroneous position. The country which the Navajos inhabited, is necessary to the white man; nor, were those Indians even returned there, it is at all probable that, without an armed force larger than the government could spare for such a purpose, would they be kept in subjection to any reservation rules. They would immediately become predatory as is their disposition—settlements near them would suffer, or become abandoned, and the extensive mineral wealth of that region would not be developed for years to come. There are numerous eligible sites for a reservation for the Navajos […] and we trust that they will be speedily located upon some of them”

During the 1860s, two of New Mexico’s largest newspapers were at odds with each other. The Santa Fe Gazette for the most part sided with General Carleton and praised his policy and the establishment of Bosque Redondo and the General often used it to promote his work. The Santa Few New Mexican, conversely, was mostly funded and edited by critics of Carleton who used their platform to emphatically oppose his policies. Both newspapers often claimed humanitarian reasons for their stances, each stating that the ideas they supported were best for New Mexicans and the tribes alike. However, a reading of the articles reveals the deep-seated role politics and access to land and resources played in each newspaper’s stance. The contrasting political and social views in each paper provide insight to the main ideas and arguments at the time around the controversial establishment of the Bosque Redondo Reservation among New Mexicans as each paper tried to sway the populace to their side.

04/30/2020

Join us for a special discussion with author and historian Drew Gomber regarding the myths and legends surrounding the life and times of Billy the Kid as part of the Museum of New Mexico History's 1st Wednesday Lecture Series.

04/29/2020

Mary and Maria: The Story of Objects from Rio Arriba County, NM, USA

Investigate the rooms of Maria Chabot and Mary Cabot Wheelwright through this 360 tour! What do their objects and letters say about them and the time period they lived in? You can zoom, click on objects, and if you enable audio can hear sound clips as well.

In this lesson, we discuss how objects, photographs, architecture, and letters all make up material culture. Material culture can illuminate aspects of people's lives which help archaeologists and historians learn about the past. By exploring the rooms of Maria Chabot and Mary Cabot Wheelright through a 360 tour, students investigate who these women were and how they fit into the history of New Mexico. Students study the meaning behind objects and use primary sources as a means of examining history.

Check out the full lesson here:
http://nmhistoricsites.org/virtual-classroom/los-luceros-virtual-classroom/mary-and-maria-the-story-of-objects

What can we learn about people from the things they own?

04/29/2020

Billy the Kid’s Escape from the Lincoln County Courthouse

139 years ago yesterday, Billy the Kid made his last escape from Lincoln County Courthouse. Take a virtual tour of the iconic building with us that we shot yesterday evening at nearly the exact time that Billy made his move!

We are also excited to announce that, in collaboration with the New Mexico History Museum and the Friends of History, we will be hosting a live conversation with author and historian Drew Gomber one week from today (May 6, 2020). Tune in on Facebook or YouTube to ask your questions about all things Billy the Kid.

More information to come!!

04/29/2020

Los Luceros: How the State's Newest Historic Site Came to Fruition

Join Ethan Ortega, the manager of Los Luceros Historic Site as he explores the history of our State's Newest Historic Site.

*Correction: Thank you to Representative Jim Trujillo who sponsored the bill that made Los Luceros an official Historic Site!*

04/28/2020

Releases

Jemez Historic Site hosts the fourth virtual "Our Fair New Mexico" concert featuring Marlon Magdalena, Native American flute artist, educator, and performer of Jemez Pueblo.

Watch the concert on this page at 7 pm on Friday, May 1, 2020! Stay tuned for the link to the Premiere.

Find more information at http://www.nmculture.org/release/1143/8.

Your ticket to New Mexico's exceptional Museums and Historic Sites. From Indian treasures to space exploration, world-class folk art to awesome dinosaurs—our museums and monuments celebrate the essence of New Mexico every day. More Info »

04/28/2020

Thank you to our colleagues over at the New Mexico History Museum for posting this fantastic picture of the historic courthouse at Lincoln Historic Site!

Keep an eye on our page today as we will be sharing a special virtual tour of the courthouse and making an announcement about an upcoming (Billy the Kid related) online collaboration with the New Mexico History Museum and the Friends of History coming up on May 6th.

Today in history

On April 28, 1881, Billy the Kid, staring down a date with the hangman two weeks hence, busts out of the Lincoln County Courthouse by killing deputies J.W. Bell and Bob Olinger. Today the courthouse, pictured here around 1900, is the most popular stop at the state-owned Lincoln Historic Site.

Image:
Palace of the Governors Photo Archives # 104821

#newmexicoculture #nmsharedhistories