Settlers competing for land.  Pueblo revolt. Hardship for many. Becoming part of Mexico and Mexican independence. Chimayo Rebellion. Santa Fe Trail and the pathway connecting New Mexico to the United States. The Taos Rebellion.

It is a story of passion, blood, of people forging a consensus and learning to live together. Of becoming a territory, and then a state.

At last there is a museum that captures the tumultuous times spanning 500 years. It is the New Mexico History Museum, and it is the stories of the state, and the people.

Using soundscaping, text, photos, and interactive exhibits, the museum the history and the people. Press a bronze palm print and sound floats through the exhibit area. I listen to a young girl from the Santa Clara pueblo singing a traditional song. Above my head I read ”The story of my people and the story of this place are a single story. No man can think of us without thinking of this place. We are always joined together.” Taos pueblo elder, approximately 1968.

There are small areas and alcoves taking a huge space and creating human-scale environments. Screens on a wall project images, touch screens below allow in-depth exploration. In another area, images are projected on to a Conestoga wagon.

I walk through the Taos rebellion. Land grants. Outlaws.The building of cities. 

Huge blown up photos greet me. “This is almost like walking into a landscape,” notes Sujit Tolat, Senior Designer.  And it is, I’m standing in  the landscape of history.

Personal stories punctuate and personalize history. Po’Pay, Juan de Onate, Barboncito, Kit Carson, Billy the Kid, Adolph Bandelier, Robert Oppenheimer.

There’s Mary Coulter and Fred Harvey and the Atchinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. Their Indian Detours that introduced the wild land and its people  to visitors traveling across the country.

New Mexico goes to war and the Navajo Codetalkers are there. The span covered is staggering, and I feel history flowing over me.

My New Mexico section specializes in oral history - the recorded reminiscence of people across the state.

We are often taught history as a series of dates and events – a total misconception. History is the story of people and their actions. The dates just let us put them in order. Nothing more.

The New Mexico History Museum gets that and provides the story for everyone to experience and learn. Go there. Perhaps we'll meet, for I will certainly be there, too.

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