Friends of History New Mexico

08/27/2026

In the midst of the Manhattan Project during World War II, four men entrusted with some of America’s most crucial secrets betrayed their country—delivering atomic bomb secrets to Joseph Stalin. Just four years later, the Soviet Union tested a copy of the United States’ Fat Man atomic bomb.
Friends of History present a New Mexico History & Heritage Lecture:

MANHATTAN PROJECT: The Project Y Spies
Guest Speaker: Alan B. Carr

Wednesday, October 7 at 1:00 PM
New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe

A program manager and the senior historian for Los Alamos National Laboratory, Alan Carr explores the real-life spy thriller based on exclusive interviews with historians, scientists and counterintelligence professionals and rarely shared historic materials. With these insights, you’ll discover how these acts of treason shaped the Cold War.

Ticket information at: https://tinyurl.com/4u7tp8kn

New Mexico History & Heritage Lectures support the public education mission of the New Mexico History Museum and are sponsored by Century Bank Wealth Management.

08/25/2026

While the thirteen colonies on the Atlantic coast declared independence in 1776, New Mexico was a remote, rugged northern frontier of the Spanish Empire. That same year, the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition traveled from Santa Fe for 1,700 miles through many unexplored portions of present-day Colorado, Utah, and Arizona.
On August 5, Friends of History presented NEW MEXICO 1776, a public lecture by State Historian Rob Martinez at the New Mexico History Museum. Using The Dominguez Report of 1776, he explores what the peoples, places, foods, and cultures were like in this most significant year of our nation’s history.
This and other New Mexico History & Heritage Lectures are recorded live and made available as a public service on our YouTube channel.
Link: https://tinyurl.com/53pjxuns

Friends of History New Mexico gratefully acknowledge Century Bank Wealth Management for sponsoring their New Mexico History & Heritage Lectures this year.

08/04/2026

08/04/2026

Free for our members, this event will be recorded and posted later on our YouTube channel for New Mexicans and history buffs everywhere.

Join the Friends of History New Mexico for their next in-person lecture in the museum auditorium.

"1776 in New Mexico" with Rob Martínez, New Mexico State Historian

📅Wed., Aug. 5
🕑1:00 PM
🎟️$15 general/Free Friends of History members
🔗https://friendsofhistorynm.org/event/1776-in-new-mexico/

Imagine what life was like in New Mexico in 1776, the year of the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. State Historian Rob Martínez will take you there using the Domínguez Report of 1776 to explore what the peoples, places, foods, and cultures were like in this most significant year of our nation’s history.

Image: Illustration of the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition riding through canyon country. Courtesy of Utah Division of State History.

07/01/2026

We, in association with the New Mexico History Museum, are delighted to announce the launch of a new walking tour: Santa Fe’s Jewish Roots.
Come with us and discover the impressive and true story of two Diasporas in a city different. Your two-hour experience highlights individuals and families who contributed to Santa Fe being a unique economic and cultural center, and features historic landmarks along a mile and one-quarter route.
Your guide is a Friends of History docent, trained under the auspices of the New Mexico History Museum – the only walking tour guides in Santa Fe with this distinction.
Santa Fe’s Jewish Roots is offered as a custom group tour by advance reservation, subject to guide availability.
For details, dates, and price, visit: https://friendsofhistorynm.org/santa-fe-jewish-roots/



(Photo: Freighters on Santa Fe Trail, date unknown. Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, New Mexico History Museum)

05/19/2026

After settling in New Mexico in 1923, Amelia Elizabeth White became one of the most influential women in the state. She was a significant landowner, colorful patron of the arts, and committed community activist in Santa Fe for nearly fifty years.
Her impact is still felt to this day though her name doesn’t grace any buildings and there are no plaques acknowledging her philanthropic works. Only a small park she donated bears her name.
Join us in celebrating her life and legacy in the city she loved.

AMELIA ELIZABETH WHITE: The Most Influential Woman in Santa Fe
A New Mexico History & Heritage Lecture by Harry Werksman

Wednesday, June 3 at 1-2:30 pm
New Mexico History Museum Auditorium

Details and tickets at: https://tinyurl.com/4f6rhpea

Harry M. Werksman, Jr. is an award-winning television writer and producer of more than 30 years. He moved to Santa Fe in 2021, where he continues focusing on his great passions – storytelling, history, and contributing to the civic life of his community.

New Mexico History & Heritage Lectures are a public program of Friends of History, a volunteer organization supporting the educational mission of the NM History Museum.

04/16/2026

Friends of History recently presented “Merchants of the Santa Fe Trail,” a public lecture by and conversation with Joy L. Poole, writer and co-founder of the Santa Fe Trail Association.
Spotlighting the lives and adventures of three notable traders, a recording is now available for viewing free on Friends of History’s YouTube channel at: https://tinyurl.com/mr4wcdes
Enjoy it at any time, along with more than 60 past lectures on New Mexican history and heritage.

04/07/2026

Walk through American history older than the USA itself in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Friends of History, the official walking tours and volunteer docents of the New Mexico History Museum, is offering historic walking tours of the nation’s oldest capital city to the public almost daily for eight months this year, from April 1 through November 30.
History buffs and students, writers and artists, educators and travelers of all backgrounds and ages may step into the atmosphere and authentic story of Santa Fe on three, two-hour walking tours for small groups. Friends of History offer a regularly-scheduled walking tour of Historic Downtown, the popular Spies, Assassins, and The Manhattan Project walking tour, and a special Cowboys, Outlaws, and the Wild West walking tour.
Tour guests make up to 30 stops along the two-hour route to rest and take photos while a trained docent shares amazing facts and true stories, shows historic images, and answers questions with genuine knowledge and experience.
Walking Tours of Historic Downtown Santa Fe details including tickets are available at: https://friendsofhistorynm.org/walking-tours/
Ticket proceeds benefit the state museum.

03/11/2026

In the United States in 1850, five hundred wagon loads of merchandise left the Kansas City area and headed west on the Santa Fe Trail. Only five years later, as many as 3,000 wagons, 9,000 men, 6,000 mules and 28,000 oxen carried goods valued at $5,000,000—a figure comparable to over $190 Million today.

Friends of History present
MERCHANTS OF THE SANTA FE TRAIL
A New Mexico History & Heritage Lecture by Joy L. Poole

WED, APRIL 1 at 1-2:30 PM
New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe

Joy Poole is co-founder of the Santa Fe Trail Association, former Deputy State Librarian for the New Mexico State Library, and a writer.
In her illustrated presentation and conversation, she will explore the lives and adventures of three notable Santa Fe traders. You’ll discover how they worked, their interactions with Native Americans, and the challenges of traveling overland. One of them even took his bride on a honeymoon over the trail with 50 men and 500 mules!

Ticket information at: https://tinyurl.com/3cbetmaj

(Photo: Wagon trains, San Francisco Street at Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico. 1869-1871. Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Joy Poole, Deputy State Librarian (retired) This talk presents the biographies, stories and adventures of three Santa Fe Trail traders.  Learn how

02/17/2026

Friends of History thank everyone who attended the launch of New Mexico History & Heritage Lectures at the NM History Museum in Santa Fe on February 4, 2026.
The sold-event was Rio Grande Weaving: Tradition, History, and Continuity, featuring guest speaker and award-winning artist Irvin L. Trujillo (pictured below at left).
In the one-hour presentation, the master weaver explores the history and styles of Rio Grande weaving, his family’s work in the village of Chimayó, and the serious challenges this living heritage of New Mexico is confronting in the 21st century.
If you missed the sold out event, would like to enjoy it again, or wish to share it with others, a one-hour recording is now available free on our YouTube channel.
Enjoy it now at: https://tinyurl.com/achpaddb

What’s more, you can access a playlist of more than 60 previous talks about the people, places and events that have shaped New Mexico for more four centuries. Recordings are available to everyone.

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https://friendsofhistorynm.org/