 fter many months of planning we are excited to announce
that the Jewish Pioneer Video project is underway. In partnership
with the University of New Mexico Center for Regional Studies,
the NMJHS is sponsoring this important project that will videotape
the stories, photographs and artifacts of the descendants of
some of New Mexico's pioneer Jewish families. The Board feels
it is essential to document these unique stories of early New
Mexico before they are lost forever. This project is complimentary
to the work that was done for the Pioneer Jewish exhibit at the
Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.
More than a dozen enthusiastic and
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 dedicated volunteers have been
trained in New Mexico history, Jewish history and practices,
and oral history techniques. The training was done at the Jewish
Community Center in Albuquerque and at the UNM Oral History facilities.
UNM Professors Noel Pugach, Durwood Ball, and Rose Diaz, Dr.
Henry Tobias, and Lisa Witt of Avista Video Histories conducted
the training. The intensive work done by these volunteers ensures
that they will do thorough and professional interviews with their
families. The final transcripts and booklets on each family will
be archived at the State Record & Archives in Santa Fe and
at UNM. Volunteers have been assigned to their families and are
beginning their research. They will be contacting their individual
families in the next few weeks. The videotaped interviews will
begin in May.
This project is being funded by the New Mexico Jewish Historical
Society, the University of New Mexico, individual donors, and
by grants from private and public funding agencies. It is an
enormous undertaking and we welcome financial support from all
of you who are interested in preserving the legacy of some of
the state's most influential early pioneers. Please contact Judy
Weinreb at jbweinreb@aol.com with any questions about the project. |
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n Sunday afternoon, April 21, Stan Hordes will
share some of his recent findings on the participation of Crypto-Jews
in the 1598 colonizing expedition of Juan de Oñate.
Entitled, "Crypto-Jews and the Establishment of the First
Permanent Spanish Colony in New Mexico by Juan de Oñate:
A Closer Look," Hordes will discuss how descendants of converso
families from Spain, Portugal and Mexico were recruited by Oñate
following the failed entrada of Gaspar Castaño de Sosa,
and in the midst of the campaign by the Holy Office of the Inquisition
against Mexican crypto-Jews.
 The lecture is co-sponsored by
the Adult Education Program of Temple Beth Shalom of Santa Fe,
and will take place from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at Temple Beth Shalom,
205 E. Barcelona Rd. Admission is $5.00 for Society and Temple
members, $10.00 for the general public. For further information,
contact The New Mexico Jewish Historical Society, hsociety2000@yahoo.com,
or (505) 348-4471.
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