Sherry Robinson Author and Journalist James Silas Calhoun, as New Mexico's first territorial governor, played a critical role in New Mexico's transition from Mexican to American possession. He worked hard to make Hispanic New Mexicans comfortable with their new status as American citizens. Calhoun was also New Mexico's first Indian Agent, responsible for all the tribes in…

This ONLINE ONLY presentation aired on Wednesday, August 3, 2020 at 1200 Noon. Here is the link for the presentation:                https://youtu.be/eraUdIyQtkU   Virgil Ortiz  Artist, Cochiti Pueblo In this lecture, Cochiti artist, Virgil Ortiz takes us on a journey through the processes he uses to create his artwork.…

Dr. Jeanne Abrams, Professor University of Denver Jews, particularly Jewish women, found unprecedented opportunity in the early American West.  Jewish women here took advantage of those opportunities well in advance of women in other areas of the country and took leading positions in social welfare, business, education, the professions, and politics while at the same…

Robert Nott, Journalist  Gabriella Campos, Photographer Santa Fe NEW MEXICAN Due to the professional demands upon our scheduled speakers,  the upcoming June presentation of the First Wednesday Lecture Series has been postponed until this fall. We thank Robert Nott, Gabriella Campos and all the staff of the Santa Fe New Mexican for their untiring efforts to report on…

Thomas Leech  Curator (Retired), Palace Press, New Mexico History Museum In October 2021,  more than 30 boxes of records documenting the life and times of artist Gustave Baumann arrived at The New Mexico History Museum. A bequest of the Ann Baumann Trust, it contains correspondence, print and sales records, handwritten notes, scrapbooks, color palettes, woodblocks, photographs…

Gordon Bronitsky, PhD  Founder and President, IndigeNOW! When New Mexico became a state in 1912, its constitution denied Indians the right to vote.  In 1948, Miguel Trujillo, a WWII Marine veteran from Laguna, sued New Mexico and obtained the right to vote for Indians of the state.  This presentation tells his story. It encourages an…

Scott Andrews Founder, the Wisdom Archive   Since 2014 The Wisdom Archive has been producing video portraits of masters of traditional culture for a YouTube archive. Primarily focusing on the work of Northern New Mexican elders, the Archive now includes 51 short films.  Ranging from the traditional music of Antonia Apodaca and Cipriano Vigil, to…

Hannah Abelbeck Photo Archivist, Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, New Mexico History Museum This talk will dive deep into a set of photographs in Photo Archives collections which feature Samuel Adams, an African American Civil War veteran who later settled in New Mexico. The presentation will put Adams in context with his contemporaries and explore…

Megan Kate Nelson  Author and Historian Most Americans believe that the Civil War took place only in the East—Gettysburg, Atlanta, Appomattox—and that the fight involved only the North and the South. Beginning in the summer of 1861, however, the U.S. and Confederate armies clashed with each other and with Indigenous peoples in New Mexico and…

William DeBuys                                                                            Conservationist and Writer Don J. Usner                    …

Thomas E. Chavez Director (Retired), New Mexico History Museum; Historian The Santa Fe Trail can be of interest on many levels; from tracing its ruts, reading the journals of those who traversed it, compiling receipts of the food they ate, focusing on biographies of individual travellers, and so on.  Yet, the Trail’s history has a…

Robert L. Spude, Ph.D. Regional Historian (retired), NPS Dr. Spude will take the audience on a tour of some of his favorite ghost towns around the Southwest and discuss their histories, legends and preservation.  The reality of the boom-and-bust economy of the territorial period and the resultant ghost towns highlights the shockingly transitory nature of…