Harwood Museum of Art presents lecture featuring Genaro Padilla

Hispano literary traditions in New Mexico to be discussed

The Harwood Museum of Art, in conjunction with the New Mexico Office of the State Historian, presents a lecture on Thursday, July 20, at 7 p.m. with Genaro Padillo titled, “Villagra’s La Historia de la Nueva Mexico, 1610 and Fray Angelico Chavez’ 'My Penitente Land: The Epics of Home.' The lecture is free and open to the public.

Photo: Genaro Padilla

Padilla is one of the leading scholars of Mexican-American literature in the United States, and has been on faculty in the English Department at U.C. Berkeley since 1987. As a member of the faculty, he has received numerous awards including the Premio Critical Nueva Fourth Annual Award for Excellence in Literary Scholarship from the University of New Mexico, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, a University of California President’s Research Fellowship in the Humanities, William Kimball Rice Fellowship at Stanford University Humanities Center and a President’s Fellowship at the University of Utah.

Padilla has authored many articles and chapters, and has written or edited the following books: 'My History, Not Yours: The Formation of Mexican American Autobiography,' 'The Short Stories of Fray Angelico Chavez, Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage,' 'Nuevomexicano Cultural Legacy: Forms, Agencies and Discourse,' and 'Power, Race, and Gender in Academe: Strangers in the Tower?'

Padilla is active in the Modern Language Association, sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of American Quarterly, and is an Advisory Board member of the Bibliographical Survey of Mexican American Literary Culture of NEH. Additionally, since 1995, Padilla has served as Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at U.C. Berkeley.

Padilla comes to Taos as part of the Office of State Historian Lecture Series. The impetus for this lecture series, which provides speakers to various venues throughout New Mexico, comes from the Office of The State Historian’s mission “to foster and facilitate an understanding and appreciation of New Mexico’ history and culture trough education, research, preservation, and community outreach.”

For his July 20 Harwood Lecture, Padilla will examine literary traditions of New Mexico, focusing on two authors Fray Angélico Chávez and Gaspar Perez de Villagra.

Fray Angélico Chávez (1910-1996) was an American Franciscan Priest, historian, author, poet and painter. Born the first of 10 children he attended public schools in Mora. At the age of 14, Chávez was admitted to St. Francis Seminary in Ohio.

While at the seminary, Chávez endeavored to improve his English (his second language) through a study of the classic literature of the language. He began writing fiction, essays, and other works at this time, several of which were published in the Brown and White, the student magazine he later edited.

In 1929, he officially became a novice and received the order's habit. Due to his promise as a visual artist, was given the religious name Frater Angélico after the Florentine painter Fra Angelico. He continued his studies in Detroit, graduating in 1933. He studied for four more years before being ordained at Saint Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, the first native New Mexican Franciscan.

He was assigned to the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Peña Blanca and its missions in Jémez Pueblo and Los Cerrillos.

After a career in the military during WWII and through the Korean War, Chávez was appointed archivist of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and undertook the cataloguing and translation of its Spanish archives. This work provided new primary sources that allowed for a reevaluation of the history of New Mexico. He wrote the definitive work on the families of New Mexico, as well as many other works of history, some of which is considered revisionist.

He also wrote poetry, short stories and novels, including his 1974 book “My Penitente Land: Reflections on Spanish New Mexico.” Since his fictional works center on the history and culture of the Hispanic people of New Mexico, he is sometimes regarded as "the father of Chicano literature".

Gaspar Perez de Villagra's (1555-1620) “Historia de la Nueva Mexico” (1610) is an epic poem and firsthand account of the first European settlement established in New Mexico. Don Juan de Onate led the first party of soldiers and settlers on their journey north from New Spain. The author was a captain in the Onate expedition and while his poem is a rich source of historical information.

Following Padilla’s Harwood Lecture, a forum will be held on Saturday, July 22, 6 p.m. at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque inspired by the Theme Hispano Literary Traditions in New Mexico.

This forum as well as all lectures including Dr. Padilla’s are funded by a grant from IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) in partnership with the Office of the State Historian, the Palace of the Governors, New Mexico state Library, TREX (Museum of N.M. Travelling Exhibits Program) N.M. Highlands University, Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe and the National Hispanic Culture Center and the Museum Outreach Program.

For more information of Padilla’s Lecture Epics of Home, call 758-9826 ext. 105 or visit Harwood Museum.

The Harwood Museum of Art, 238 Ledoux Street, Taos. Hours Tue-Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5. Admission $ 7, Sundays free to New Mexico residents.

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu