History Museum conoscenti mark their calendars by our monthly Brainpower& Brownbags Lecture Series. Held at noon on weekdays, they’re a casual opportunity to hear from authors and historians on a mad variety of topics. The first half of the 2014 season has been scheduled, with the first lecture this Wednesday. (Details below.)
In all, the lectures range among pinhole photography, the Taos Mutiny of 1855, New Mexico’s Civil War slave code and more. Organized by Tomas Jaehn of the museum’s Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, the lectures are free and open to the public. And yes, you can bring a lunch.
Each lecture begins at noon in the Meem Community Room; enter through the museum’s Washington Avenue doors. Seating is limited. Do like those in the know do and mark your calendars. The schedule:
Wednesday, Jan. 15: Andres Armijo on “Witness to the Light: A History of Vernacular Photography in New Mexico.” Armijo, an Albuquerque resident, is the author of Becoming a Part of My History: Through Images & Stories of My Ancestors (LPD Press/Rio Grande Books, 2010).
Wednesday, Feb. 19: Stefanie Beninato on “Land Grants and Water Rights: Fighting Words in the 21st Century” Beninato, a Santa Fe tour guide, holds a doctorate in Southwest history from the University of New Mexico.
Wednesday, March 5: Brian Stout on “Tree of Life: Our Forests in Peril” Stout is a Michigan-based forester and author of Trees of Life: Our Forests in Peril (Friesen Press, 2013).
Wednesday, April 23: Nancy Spencer and Eric Renner on “Contemporary Pinhole Photography in the West and Southwest” Spencer and Renner created the Pinhole Resource Collection from their home in New Mexico’s Mimbres Valley. They guest-curated the exhibition Poetics of Light: Pinhole Photography at the New Mexico History Museum, April 26, 2014–March 29, 2015, along with its accompanying book (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2014).
Wednesday, May 21: John Ramsay on “The Year 1855: Excitement in the Taos Plaza” Ramsay, a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher, is a longtime board member of the History Society of New Mexico.
Wednesday, June 18: John P. Hays on “The Curious Case of New Mexico’s Civil War-Era Slave Code” Hays is an attorney in the Santa Fe firm of Cassutt, Hays and Friedman.
Image above: An undated image of San Francisco de Asis Church in Taos, by Dallas Sells. Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, Pinhole Resource Collection, HP.2012.15.634.
* Wondering about Part 2? Check back in May!