Center
for Southwest Research opens new collections
Collection
includes 52 oral histories on roadside crosses of NM
By Carolyn
Gonzales
 |
| Descansos
mark where people lost their lives. |
The UNM
General Librarys Center for Southwest Research announces
the following manuscript collections open and available to researchers:
Roadside
Crosses of New Mexico Oral History Project
This oral-history
collection documents reflections and meanings given to roadside
crosses, or descansos in New Mexico. The project
brings a deeper awareness of the Spanish descanso tradition
to the public by documenting the historical origins, contemporary
cultural history, and geographical locations of descansos in
New Mexico. Traditionally, the descanso was a cross placed in
the ground to mark the spot where mourners rested the coffin
while on the walk from the home of the deceased person to the
cemetery. With the introduction of the automobile, the
tradition evolved to mark the place of death for victims of
traffic or pedestrian accidents. The collection has 35 interviews
with 52 respondents. (MSS 680 BC)
Robert
W. Young Papers
Works and
materials written and gathered by UNM Linguistics Professor
Emeritus Robert W. Young, the collection contains published
and unpublished manuscripts, data, handwritten and typed notes,
memoranda, news clippings, papers, court cases and correspondence
concerning linguistics (Athabaskan - Navajo), anthropology,
history, BIA relations with the Navajo, and Navajo Nation Tribal
records from 1880 to 1992. The collection is divided into
six overlapping series: linguistics, history/anthropology, Navajo
condition, government relations and more Native American related
publications. (MSS 672 BC).
 |
| Members
of the Navajo Tribal Advisory Committee and the general
council, circa 1953. The photograph is included among images
in the Robert W. Young Papers. |
Witter
Bynner Collection
Generated
and gathered by Evelyn Ortner while researching her masters
thesis, By Nature a Sociable Fellow, A Study of the Life
and Literary Relationships of Witter Bynner (Drew University,
1973), the collections core consists of correspondence
by, about and to Witter Bynner. Ortners correspondence
with Bynner dates from 1953-1964. Their conversations
shed light on Bynners writings and writing process, as
well as his personal relationships, health issues, and the literary
and arts scene of the time. Bynner wrote to Ortner from
his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico as well as Chapala, Mexico.
Ortners correspondence with Bynners friends, colleagues,
and acquaintances provides personal recollections of Bynner
and his social circle, which included Paul Horgan, D. H. Lawrence
and others
(MSS 681 BC).
Finding
aids to these collections are available in the Anderson Reading
Room, Zimmerman Library, and will soon be available via the
Online Archive of New Mexico at http://elibrary.unm.edu/oanm/.