Joseph P. Sánchez, director of the Spanish Colonial Research Center, a joint project of the University of New Mexico and the National Park Service, was inducted into the Orden de Isabel la Católica in a ceremony held in Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza recently.
The accompanying medal, bearing the Knight’s Cross, is one of Spain’s most important decorations conferred by King Juan Carlos of Spain to a foreigner.
Consul General of Spain Julio Montesinos presented Sánchez with the medal. Following the ceremony, Sánchez presented, “Governor Francisco Cuerbo y Valdés and the Founding of Albuquerque” as part of Albuquerque’s Tricentennial (1706-2006) lecture series.
Of the award, Sánchez said, “I am pleased and honored to receive this award for my work and efforts to preserve and protect cultural resources related to Spanish Colonial Heritage sites managed by the National Park Service, as well as the various states, for truly they form a significant part of our national story.”
Sánchez received the honor for his life-long educational and scholarly accomplishments in promoting Spanish Colonial heritage within the United States and internationally in Spain, Mexico and Latin America. Aside from his many historical studies about Spanish colonialism, Sánchez established the Spanish Colonial Research Center at UNM in 1986, as a partnership with the National Park Service. He is also the founder and editor of the Colonial Latin American Historical Review (CLAHR), a journal dedicated to the history of the Spanish Colonial period.
He is also the recipient of the Medalla de Acero al Mérito Histórico Capitán Alonso de León by the Sociedad Nuevoleonesa de Historia, Geografia y Estadistica, Monterrey, Mexico, for his lifelong work in Colonial Mexican history.
Throughout his varied career, Sánchez has taught at several colleges including the University of Arizona, the University of New Mexico, Santa Ana College and the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in Mexico. He has also researched in 30 archives in Spain, Mexico, France, Italy and England, and has published several studies on the Spanish frontiers in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Alaska.
Among his books are: “The Rio Abajo Frontier, 1540-1692” (1987); “Pecos: Gateway to Pueblos and Plains” (1988), co-edited with John Bezy; “Spanish Bluecoats: The Catalonian Volunteers in Northwestern New Spain, 1767-1810” (1990); “História de la Nueva México, 1610 by Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá” (1992) co-edited with Miguel Encínias and Alfredo Rodríguez; “The Aztec Chronicles: The True History of Christopher Columbus by Quilaztli of Texcoco” (1995); “Explorers, Traders, and Slavers: Forging the Old Spanish Trail, 1678-1850” (1997); and, “Don Fernando Duran y Chaves’s Legacy: A History of the Atrisco Land Grant, 1693-1968” (1999).
One of his books, published in Mexico City, is “Memorias del Coloquio
Internacional de El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro” (2000) co-edited with José de la Cruz Pacheco. His most recent book, “Exploradores, Tratantes y Comerciantes de Esclavos” was published in Barcelona, Spain in 2001.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920
Posted by scarr at April 27, 2005 03:54 PM