Thank you to all staff and volunteers who co-ordinated the bus of chaparons and children to the Santa Fe Opera performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute. A special thanks to those that work for the Opera's  Community & Youth Program. This was a great oportunity for our community!

Saturday June 26th at 4:00 p.m.

This lecture will be in our non-fiction room.

Melina Vizcaino-Aleman is a graduate of the American Studies PhD program at the University of New Mexico.  Her work concentrates on the history and culture of the Southwest, particularly as it relates to US Hispanic and Chicana/o literature, folklore, and film.  She also focuses on the significance of race, class, and ethnicity, as well as critical regional studies.  In her dissertation, "Triptych Cultural Critique: Fray Angelico Chavez and Southwestern Critical Regionalism, 1939-2004," she provides a critical biography of New Mexico's twentieth-century Franciscan priest, poet, historian, and man of letters.  The dissertation puts Fray Angelico in dialogue with other Southwestern writers, both Anglo and Mexican American, between the years of 1939 and 2004, and it uses religion as a cultural studies paradigm to engage in the development of regional writing and critical regional studies.

For her presentation, she will be presenting a portion of her dissertation on Fray Angelico's La Conquistadora: The Autobiography of an Ancient Statue, a 1954 text published by the Saint Anthony Guild Press and written in the context of the Nuclear Age.  Fray Angelico penned La Conquistadora after serving with the military during the Korean War (1950-1953), and he visited the Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Extremadura, Spain, while stationed in Europe.  He also served as an Army Chaplain for WWII (1942-1946), and he wrote Our Lady of the Conquest, a history of the statue published in 1948 by the New Mexico Historical Society.  The autobiography in many ways disputes this previous history using the voice of the statue.  By writing the autobiography in the voice of the statue "herself," Fray Angelico uses a literary technique that crosses gender, genre, and generations.  The presentation will address the autobiography's cross-gendered voice in three ways: 1) as a way to understand New Mexico's Hispanic religious traditions in a modern era; 2) as a revisionary history and Southwestern cultural performance; and 3) as a response to the US's nuclear development on a global scale.

Thanks to the volunteers, staff and community the El Rito Library pulled in almost $1,000 of operating funds last Saturday!

Through the month of May

We are proud to have on view in our Special Collections Cabinet the book work of Julie Wagner.

Julie has been a living and working in the El Rito for over 35 years. She has been producing works of sculpture in wood and now paper, drawings, and artist’s books.

"My books are almost always one-of-a-kind, sculptural in nature, and concerned with form.  I want the pages to have texture, weight, and often translucency.  I see them as interactive, so the viewer is in a sense going on a journey through them as they turn the pages or pass from one page of the accordion to the next.

When I make a book, I often have multiple agendas.  I like to have ideas running along in parallel or interwoven paths.  I like definitions, maps, diagrams, connections between things that seem disparate...vessels to drink from, vessels to travel in, vessels carrying blood or sap, vessels embodying virtues or qualities.  I like to have the images carry the weight of the ideas and rarely use a text. "

Julie's work will be on display Through the Month of May. These works are for sale and proceeds will benefit the library.

Thank you Susan Guevara and all who helped The El Rito Library Celebrate 

Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros

Susan put together a wonderful presentation on how  “Numero Uno”, a book authored by Arthur and Alex Dorros was illustrated by her. El Rito School children were treated to a dramatization using the original models for many of the characters and photo studies she used for reference.

For more pictures of the event please visit our photo gallery.

The El Rito Library would like to thank the Del Norte Credit Union

for taking the time to recognize the importance of this event and becoming our sponsor.

As you all know, the Library is in constant need of operating money.

OUR FUNDRAISER IS SIMPLE - 100 PEOPLE DONATING $100 AND THE LIBRARY MAKES $10,000.

WE ARE A LITTLE OVER HALFWAY THERE
70 PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES HAVE ALREADY DONATED!

Are you one of those people that can afford $100 or maybe you and members of your family or friends can all pitch in to reach the $100 goal?

We need you now more than ever. Call the Library at 575-581-4608 and pledge your $100 donation or mail it to us at P.O. Box 5, El Rito, NM 87530.

The El Rito Library is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization and is registered in the State of New Mexico as a Charitable Organization. Our Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 85-0459285. Your gift is fully tax deductible.

THANK YOU!

People who have already donated:

Anonymous • Archuleta, Grace & Pete • Armenta, Casey & Angelica • Atterbury, Bill & Katharine • Bader, Stan & Arlene • Barrionuevo, Cesar & Marcela • Bottari-Meyer, Coleen • Boyle, Terence & Susan • Bucklin, Edward & Wendy Westerbeke • Caster, John • Chacon, Fernando & Odelsa • Cheena, Anika • Combs, Dick & Sue • Corpi, Lucha • Derrer, Suzanne • Douglas, Ramey & Jo • Duran, Karin • Edwards, Jack & Viki • El Sueno Del Corazon • Frank, Constanze • Genth, David • Gershen, Sheila • Griffin, Gary & Patricia • Guevara, Joyce • Guevara, Susan • Gutierrez-Anderson, Cynthia • Hodson, Sonia & Bill • Idlet, Scott • Jewell, Sam & Isabel • Kahler, Albert & Sarah • Kramer, Jane • Lange, Ellen • Leberg, Maryann • Ludlum, Wendy & David • Maddex, Michael • (D.O.) Maley, Kathleen • Maley, Ruby • Martin, Catherine • Martin, Greg & Josephine • Martin, John & Barbara • Martin-Davis, Carol • Martinez, Ted • McGrath, Walter & Carol Ann Magai • Miller, Alan & Melissa • Morrison, Malcolm & Roxane • Nequin, Lynn • Ortega, Felipe • Ortiz, James • Ortiz, Veronica • Orona-Cordova, Roberta • Page, William & Claudia • Quadri, Kurt • Rio Grande Sun • Robert Moody Foundation • Seese, Linda & Dolphin, Rita • Serna, Patricio & Eloise • Simmons, Myron & Sharon • Singleton, Tamara & Tim Viereck • Snellman, Janice & Eric • Snow, Robert & Suzanne • Sparks, Larry • Spencer, Jett • Trujillo, Christine & Raymond • Trujillo, Edmund • Turner, Barbara & Art Burton • Valley National Bank • Wallin, Steven & Julia • Ward, Joan • Wells, Robert • Williams, Dorothy • Williams, Steven • Wilson, Maria

As of 05/19/2010

Carl J. Jung's Red Book has been generously donated by Steven Williams.  It now sits in our Special Collections cabinet. It will not be in our normal circulation but will be available for reading at our library. If you are traveling far please call ahead to reserve it for reading. 575-581-4608

"Some people feel that nobody should read the book,
and some feel that everybody should read it. The truth is, nobody really knows."

From the "Holy Grail of the Unconscious"
by SARA CORBETT Published: NY Times, September 16, 2009

There will be a lecture here at the El Rito Library on The El Rito Land Grant presented by Henrietta M. Christmas on April 24, 2010 at 4:00 to 5:30 pm.

The El Rito Land grant like many community land grants had boundaries that lie within a larger picture of land, property rights and individual claims.   The lecture identifies the granting of the land, documents and the efforts of land owners to seek the rights and to protect their individual holdings but also to preserve the merced for the benefit of the community.   The discussion will cover a time period from 1800-1900 and the results of the El Rito Land Grant.  Anyone who lives in El Rito or can trace their ancestry to the early settlers will find this lecture invaluable as 76 petitioners made claim together as a community in August of 1883. 

A genealogical and historical researcher for over 30 years, specializing in northern New Mexico, she has written several books which relate to New Mexico, like La Cienega, Pojoaque and Presidio Soldiers, she’s also written more than 100 articles for various  journals relating to genealogy and history many for Herencia. In 2009, Henrietta completed “Chaperito, Land Grant, Parish & Ghost Town” an early history of eastern San Miguel County and contributed to the "1841 Census" both donated to HGRC.  A long-time member of the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center and New Mexico Genealogy Societies she currently serves on the Board of the Historical Society of New Mexico. Henrietta’s interest in researching land grants is two-fold, identifying the persons involved and hearing the testimonies.  These records provide an in depth knowledge of who, what and when things happened in regards to their specific land grants.  Many of these papers are far superior in terms of the WPA interviews and represent New Mexico’s historical past.  Two of her most recent projects include assisting with the Segesser Hide Paintings for the History Museum in Santa Fe and writing two chapters in the Anthology for the Historical Society of NM, titled “Sunshine and Shadows in New Mexico’s Past.” Henrietta resides in Corrales with her husband Walt.

PLEASE COME JOIN US!