FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2008
150/100! The Historical Society and the Museum of New Mexico
A free symposium on Thursday, April 30, 2009
Santa Fe, NM (November 10, 2008), 150/100! The Historical Society and the Museum of New Mexico symposium commemorates the 150th Anniversary of the Historical Society of New Mexico and the 100th of the Museum of New Mexico. The day will feature scholars and historians discussing the intertwined origins and histories of these two institutions.
150/100! The Historical Society and the Museum of New Mexico will be held at the St. Francis Auditorium in Santa Fe on Thursday, April 30, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The symposium is co-hosted by the Historical Society and the Palace of the Governors/New Mexico History Museum and is free to the public. 150/100! opens the 2009 New Mexico History Conference which follows on May 1 and 2, 2009 at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.
Speakers at 150/100! The Historical Society and the Museum of New Mexico will provide a “behind-the-scenes” look at the political machinations of two powerful men that led to the establishment of the Museum of New Mexico; L. Bradford Prince and Edgar Lee Hewett. Prince was the President of the Historical Society at the time and Hewett was the soon-to-be Director of the Museum of New Mexico.
Hewett’s considerable influence on archaeology and other cultural institutions in Santa Fe and New Mexico over four decades and other prominent individuals in establishing the Museum, including Judge John McFie, Frank Springer, and Charles Lummis will also be discussed.
Background
In 1909, the New Mexico Territorial Legislature accepted the American Institute of Archaeology’s proposal to establish its School of American Archaeology in the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe. On February 19, 1909, House Bill 100 granted the use of the Palace to the Institute “for the seat of its School and Museum of American Archaeology, which museum shall be the Museum of New Mexico.” Further provision was made that “the rooms in the east of the building which are now occupied by the Historical Society of New Mexico, shall be reserved for the use of said Society, free of rent, so long as the same is conducted in harmony with the management of the Museum of New Mexico.”
The Historical Society, under the leadership of L. Bradford Prince, first a New Mexico Supreme Court Justice and then Governor from 1891-1893, had already opened its own museum in the east end of the Palace in 1885. Prince was not pleased to be forced to share the venerable building with the upstart new School and Museum and its ambitious Director Edgar Lee Hewett—and their struggles for territory in the Palace were often not “conducted in harmony.” Still, the two organizations coexisted for decades in the Palace while Hewett was building the Museum of New Mexico into the most important cultural institution in New Mexico.
The legacy of Prince and Hewett and the intertwined history of their organizations is held now in a myriad of museums and other cultural institutions across the state. These include the state museums and historical monuments of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, the largest such state system in the United States, the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, the outgrowth of the original School of American Archaeology, and the 150-year old Historical Society of New Mexico.
The 150/100! Symposium speakers and topics include:
Michael Stevenson, Historical Society of New Mexico
Governor Prince, Dr. Hewett and the Real Story of the Founding of the Museum of New Mexico
Nancy Owen Lewis, School for Advanced Research
Edgar Lee Hewett: Of Man and Monuments
Joe Traugott, New Mexico Museum of Art
Edgar Lee Hewett and New Mexico Art
Eric Blinman, New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies
Edgar Lee Hewett 's Archaeological Life and Legacy
Jo Tice Bloom, retired history professor
Judge John McFie: First Chair of the Museum of New Mexico Board of Regents
Willard Lewis, Chair, Los Compadres del Palacio
Charles Fletcher Lummis and the Museum of New Mexico
David Caffey, New Mexico historian, Clovis Community College
Frank Springer and the Development of Modern Santa Fe
For more information about the 150/100 Symposium the public should call Michael Stevenson at 505-820-7250.
For more information about the New Mexico History Conference on May 1 and 2, 2009, the public should also call Michael Stevenson at 505-820-7250. They may also visit the Historical Society’s web site www.hsnm.org where they will find information about the 150/100 Symposium and the Conference which follows.
150/100 Media Contact
Steve Cantrell, PR Manager
505-476-1144
505-310-3539 – cell
steve.cantrell@state.nm.us
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