You might not know it, but UNM has a treasure trove of artifacts and antiquities that would make Indiana Jones jealous.
UNM’s Zimmerman Library will be hosting “Archives Unexpected!” in the Frank Waters Room on April 28. Free and open to the public, this event will give the Albuquerque and UNM community the opportunity to tour with guides as they explore UNM’s Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections.
“This event will showcase materials in the library’s Special Collections that most people might be surprised to know we have,” said Michael Taylor, public services librarian and special collections librarian for English Language & Literature. “For example, we have the papers of Katherine Stinson, one of the first female pilots, who spent much of her life in New Mexico.”
Taylor, along with Associate Professor Suzanne Schadl, Archivist Nancy Brown-Martinez, and University Archivist Portia Vescio will be providing a guided tour of some the historical objects that can be found within the library’s historical collections.
“The papers of New Mexico Senator Clinton Anderson contain letters signed by every president from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon,” Taylor said. “Much older materials that will be on display include pages from an 11th-century manuscript and a sample of Egyptian papyrus. We even have a real Oscar.”
The event will try to help people realize that a huge range of materials, from the Southwest and beyond, is available at UNM, Taylor said.
Taylor came up with the idea for the event and is hosting it together with his library colleagues, Schadl, Brown-Martinez and Vescio, who are helping to identify materials to show.
“The library has so many interesting and unexpected things in its collection that we will probably do it again in the future,” Taylor said.
While the event is not officially part of the “Arts Unexpected” day-long program of events across the UNM campus and Downtown Albuquerque, it was decided to be scheduled on the same day to take advantage of people’s interest in cultural materials on campus, Taylor said. “We are hoping that visitors will become more familiar with the original historical resources that are available in the library and brainstorm about ways to use them in their teaching, research and creative projects,” he said. While the past is continually open to new interpretation, what is so great about archives is that each generation can decide what it thinks is interesting about historical documents and explain them in a way that’s meaningful to them or bring their own perspective to the study of the past, Taylor said. Vescio said she thinks we all have some preconceived notion of what sorts of materials are found in archives and special collections libraries. “The truth is that photographs, correspondences and meeting minutes only make up a portion of what I have in my collections,” she said. “You never know what you will find.”
Each item has a story behind it and a reason for being there, Vescio said.
“With this event, we are bringing just a handful of these items to the public’s attention,” she said. Schadl said what she is trying to do as part of the event is to bring to light some fairly recent materials and show their historical relevancy to their collections, while exposing them to a group of people who might not otherwise know about them.
“One thing that we have in our archives that is really important to the history of UNM is a real clear tie between New Mexico and Mexico,” she said.
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There will be art prints on display that date back to when the state was still part of Mexico, relating to the beginnings of the state’s mining industry.
Schadl said that she and her colleagues will be focusing on the materials that they work with more regularly, since they all have specializations.
“The arts are very well represented in our special collections,” Schadl said.
Nichole Harwood is a reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Nolidoli1.
