Wednesday, July 29, 2009

New Mexico Digital History Project

I don't know how I missed this website before, but I've recently come across an amazing resource for anyone who is interested in New Mexico--it's the Digital History Project of the New Mexico Office of the State Historian.

Once at the home page, having chosen HTML or Flash, you can navigate between sections called Story, Place, Time, and People.

In the "Story" section, in addition to being able to choose from a number of "books," you can hear examples of native languages being spoken. Some of those included are Nambe Tewa, Santa Ana Keres, Acoma Keres, and Nde Bizaa. Some of the books in this section are on Faith, Symbols, Wisdom, Prophecy, etc. Under "The Book of Children," for example, you can find Elizabeth Willis DeHuff and the Young Artists at the Santa Fe Indian School; an essay on Pie Town by an 8th grader in 1976; and a 1980 letter from the children in a Pojoaque classroom who were responding to one of the deadliest prison uprisings in history, at the Penitentiary of New Mexico near Santa Fe.

The "Time" section is represented as a spiral. Many of the dates are clickable and lead to digitized documents and primary sources.

"Place" is divided into Counties, Communities, Land Grants, the Camino Real, and a wonderful literary map with links to authors and their works by clickable locations around the state.

The "People" section is about the lives "of individuals and groups who have left a mark on the cultural landscape of New Mexico." There are currently 19 groups of people represented. You can find native peoples, outlaws, governors, settlers, artists, etc.

As the New Mexico State Historian tells us in the introduction to the site, "New Mexico history is worth remembering." This wonderful digital undertaking goes a long way toward making those memories accessible to us all.

2 comments:

the7msn said...

What a find! Thanks for sharing the link.

Sylvia K said...

That's so interesting! I'm going to have to check to see if I can find something similar for Washington and the Northwest!

Have a great day, Clairz,

Sylvia