Mar 20 Chautauguas in the area

Fred Harvey's Southwest Couriers

All Aboard!
Tue, Mar 20, 2018, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Ruidoso Public Library, Kansas City Road, Ruidoso, NM

A new breed of courageous, intelligent, and hard-working women traveled west from the 1880’s as Harvey Girls, and then as Southwestern Detour Couriers from the 1920’s through the great depression. The railroads and the Fred Harvey system encouraged these young unmarried girls to head west to work for him, and become a part of the Southwestern landscape. The college-educated Detour Couriers, or Tour Guides, were a major part of the travel industry enlightening travelers about the history, and unique beauty of the entire southwest. Along with young men who drove the touring cars, and buses, these women took willing passengers off of the railroads and from the Fred Harvey Hotels to the ancient Indian Pueblos, National Parks (such as Bandelier, Carlsbad Caverns, and the Grand Canyon), and other places of interest. They were “walking-talking billboards” for the history, beauty and opportunities of the then little-known southwest. Grab your walking shoes, cameras, and a hat as we bump along the old dirt roads with VanAnn Moore to take a detour of the grand southwest!

Another Chautauqua in Roswell at 6 pm:  The Mystery Apaches

presented by Sherry Robinson

Roswell Public Library Tue, Mar 20, 2018, 6:00pm - 7:00pm

Roswell Public Library, North Pennsylvania Avenue, Roswell, NM, United States

Apaches were living along the Pecos and Canadian rivers long before the Spanish explorer Coronado entered the region in 1540. They've gotten little attention from historians, but they're every bit as interesting as Geronimo. Lipan Apaches, as well as groups of unnamed and unknown Apaches, continued to live in Eastern New Mexico and West Texas over hundreds of years. The Spaniards gave them various names, and American military officers, not knowing who they were, referred to them simply as "Apaches." When the Comanches drove other Apache groups from the buffalo plains, some held their ground for decades. Well into the 1800s the Pecos region was little known and unexplored. Even after the arrival of the U.S. Army, the Pecos provided refuge not only to the people who considered it their country but also to numbers of renegades, as the Army attempted to move tribes onto reservations. Who were these people? Several scholars have attempted to identify these shadowy groups. Sherry Robinson, in years of research on Eastern Apaches, will share her knowledge, which is based on the written record and Apache oral history.

Sherry Robinson is a long-time New Mexico journalist and author. Her book, "I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches", is the result of 12 years of research and describes Apaches living on the plains as well as their allies, the Lipans and Mescaleros.