In June 14, 1911, the Cloudcroft Baby Sanatorium opened, staffed by Dr. Branch Craige of Baltimore, and Miss Knox, a registered nurse. That summer the hospital was full of little patients. According to the hospital log, most patients were discharged as “cured, improved or well.” Wingless Angels, Spirited Babies…
A young boy learns an important life lesson from his elderly uncle and his compadres on a late Sunday afternoon. "I learned that the Hispanic or raza lives twice: once when he passes through the present, and the next time when he remembers it. Sundays were fun and real…
A young girl recalls the beauty of her madrina (godmother) and the joy her visits would bring into her life. My godmother was in town. She had come to visit mother and was waiting to take a picture with me. I, of course, was out in the mountains somewhere…
A young boy recalls how asking "Why?" got him into trouble many times before he learned to temper his questioning. "History has always interested me and in school I paid close attention to how our nation was founded and who was who. Upon learning about the Father of our…
Summertime in East Pecos, for George, Sadie, Trine, and me was exciting and full of adventure. We were getting so good at choza building that I bet them all I would finish first. . Once we finished them we would pretend each one…
A first-person account of a little girl's First Holy Communion Pre-Vatican II; Author unknown The day of my First Communion was to occur on Mother’s Day. We had been preparing for it one whole year, and we had been quizzed repeatedly to make sure we not only knew our…
Story of "El Indio Calabaza" and how a young boy remembers more than twenty years of annual visits when El Indio left Jemez for the Pecos Mountains. There was nothing to fear, for this Indian Man was so gentle, so kind, and old. One summer night, when we were…
My cousin Doris was a beautiful baby and she had the sweetest smile a child could have. In our village there were superstitions about giving the evil eye to babies such as Doris. Doris would not quit crying and she cried as though she were in great pain. Her…
Solomon Bibo was born in Brakel, Germany on August 30, 1853. He made an auspicious arrival at midnight so some historians put the date of his birth as August 29th. Bibo was one of eleven children. Like many young Jewish men in Germany during this time, Bibo and his…
This essay explores how different communities in the Grants-Gallup area engaged in landscape construction and place-making, and how those processes changed with the introduction of uranium mining. By David Salmanson At the college where I taught a course in Environmental History, I took my class…
