The Museum of New Mexico Press invites you to join author Ana Pacheco as she speaks about her new book on the life of J. Paul Taylor—a key figure in New Mexico’s arts community, the legislature, and a gifted educator. The lecture, at 2 pm, on Saturday, May 19, in the Meem Community Room at the New Mexico History Museum, will be followed by a Q & A period and book signing. Light refreshments will be served.
The event is free.
J. Paul Taylor: The Man from Mesilla recounts the life of one of New Mexico’s most distinguished citizens, a legislator, educator, community leaders, and arts patron.
J. Paul Taylor was born to a pioneering New Mexico family. Taylor’s mother, Margarita Romero y Lopez, was born in 1881 in Romeroville, near Las Vegas, New Mexico, to wealthy traders and merchants on the Santa Fe Trail who were instrumental in the development of Las Vegas as a commercial center. Margarita and her husband Robert Taylor, settled in the Mesilla Valley near Las Cruces, where, in 1945, son J. Paul and his bride Mary Daniels set up home. In 1947 the young couple relocated to Mesilla, where J. Paul Taylor began his thirty-nine-year career in education. He was first elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives in 1986, a position he held until his retirement in 2004.
In 1953, Taylor and his wife purchased the historic Barela-Reynolds property on the plaza in Old Mesilla, two miles from Las Cruces. The Taylor’s home today is one of the great architecturally and historically significant properties in southern New Mexico, filled with a world-class collection of art from New Mexico, the Southwest, North and South America, Mexico, and Europe. On the National Register of Historic Properties, the property was dedicated a New Mexico State Monument in 2004.
Ana Pacheco extensively interviewed Taylor and many of his family members while writing the story of Taylor’s remarkable life in New Mexico. The book is illustrated with historical and family photographs as well as contemporary photographs of the Taylor Monument and art collections. Pacheco is a native New Mexican who has worked in publishing since 1979. She began her career in New York, where she lived until 1992. Pacheco was the founder and publisher of La Herencia, a Hispanic cultural magazine in New Mexico for 15 years. She currently writes a weekly column for the Santa Fe New Mexican documenting the oral histories of the elder community.
The media contact for this event is Renee Tambeau, 505-476-1158; renee.tambeau@state.nm.us.
Download a high-resolution image of the book cover by clicking on "Go to related images" at the bottom of this page.
J. Paul Taylor: The Man from Mesilla is published by the Museum of New Mexico Press; $24.95.
