Following a major reorganization in 2016, the Historic Sites Division embarked on an ambitious effort to redefine the interpretive vision of preserving and sharing New Mexico’s rich history to visitors while elevating the stories of the individual sites to new levels. This presentation will detail not only the new directions that Division Director Patrick Moore and his regional managers brought to the sites, but also how perspectives on considering “contested space” shaped the conversations in telling New Mexico’s complicated past.
After graduating from New Mexico State University with BA and MA degrees in Political Science, History, and Public History, Patrick Moore went on to earn a PhD from Arizona State University and began a career working on myriad projects that ranged from NASA to the United States Navy at Guantanamo Bay, all while teaching future history practitioners their craft. After spending 18 years directing the Public History program at the University of West Florida, Moore returned home to New Mexico in 2016 to assume leadership of the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Historic Sites Division.
