Professor Jose Santos teaches ANTH 3310/CFB 3310 Gender and Sex Roles: A Global Perspective in the May 2012 Term is the first to use the Voyager online check out system. Now Fort Library item status will be reflected in the library online catalog accurately. Students and faculty will no longer have to manually fill out cards to borrow library materials. This improvement should encourage more usage of library materials for SMU in Taos courses.

The Cantonment Burgwin Postings digital collection chronicles the establishment and history of this small military installation in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains located 10 miles outside of Taos, New Mexico. It was established in 1852 as a cantonment to denote a temporary cavalry installation to protect the Taos Valley from the Utes and Jicarilla Indians. It was named after Captain John K. Burgwin, in honor of his death in 1847 while fighting during the siege of Taos Pueblo. The excavated, rebuilt compound was renamed Fort Burgwin in 1956 by Dr. Fred Wendorf.

The digital collection is created from two sets of documents. The first set, presented in Series 01 through Series 06, includes transcripts of primary documents relating to Cantonment Burgwin. The transcripts are held by SMU and the primary documents are mainly held at the National Archives and Records Administration. The second set, Series 07, was obtained from the Arrott Fort Union Collection at Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Students arrived to find cooler temperatures in the Carson National Forest. Several days gave forth snow showers that only lasted a little while but dusted the juniper pine trees with white.

Now the weather is windy and dry and forest fires are breaking out in the Taos area. The beginning of June Term was delayed due to road closures resulting from a fire near Sipapu. Smoke could be seen on the SMU in Taos campus from this fire as well as from a larger forest fire in Alpine Arizona.

Charles Moore, Taos Scholar in the first SMU in Taos Fall Term, donated a framed photograph in memory of Hunter Green. Hunter was a student in the Fall Term of 2009 who died in January 2010. The photograph now hangs in the Fort Burgwin Library.

SMU in Taos received a gift of crayon and watercolor drawings by Gisella Loeffler, Taos artists from Mary Ackerschott. Some of the pieces are on display in one of the exhibit cases in the Fort Burgwin library.

Loeffler was one of those “more than a minor footnote” artists of the new deal era. Born in Austria, in 1903, Gisella Loeffler is remembered as a Taos artist of immense and diverse talent. Loeffler, who signed her paintings: Gisella, moved to the U.S. with her family in 1908, settling in St. Louis, Missouri, where she studied art at Washington University. She began her career painting for the WPA Federal Art Project in the 1930???s. After seeing an exhibition of works by Taos artist Ernest Blumenschein, Gisella left her husband and moved to Taos with her two daughters. Known for whimsical Austrian and Mexican child folklore figures, she executed murals for children’s areas in a number of hospitals across the United States. Gisella was popular in the Taos community, and remained there until her death in 1977.

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A new addition to the Fort Burgwin campus is an area for chapel services. The mountain views from the chapel display the majesty of the Sangre de Christo mountains.

In the evenings, classes compete in a volleyball tournament. Here, the biology class is sparring off against archaeology. The winners of the tournament get t shirts and bragging rights for the rest of the term.

Students study ground water in our natural environment by visiting Ojo Caliente, a natural hot springs in the Taos area. The mineral springs, deemed sacred by indigenous Native Americans of Northern New Mexico,consist of ten pools with four different mineral waters, Lithia, Iron, Soda and Arsenic.

These students are working on a special assignment: slather mud all over your body and bake in the sun until done.

On Tuesday night May 25th SMU in Taos began its 2010 Colloquium Lecture Series with Paul Hutton speaking about legendary hero Davy Crockett. Primary sources have recently revealed that Davy actually surrendered to Santa Anna’s army at the battle of the Alamo but fans of the Walt Disney Fess Parker tales still maintain he died a hero.

The Lecture Series continues every Tuesday night until August 3rd.

In 1934 Taos artists Emil Bisttram, Bert Phillips, Victor Higgins and Ward Lockwood (known as the fresco quartet) created 10 frescos on the walls of the courtroom of the Taos County Courthouse. The general subject of the frescos is the use and misuse of law. Inscribed under the frescos are titles in english and spanish such as “Avarice Breeds Crime”, “Justice Begets Content”, “The Shadow of Crime” The largest fresco (4′ by 8″) is intitled “Moses the Law Giver” and was located over the judge’s bench.

This Taos Courthouse is now on the State Historical Registry and is located on the north side of the Plaza above such shops as the Taos Mountain Candle shop.

Classes have begun on the SMU in Taos and it promised to be an exciting summer for the Fort Burgwin library.

Students from the Fall 2009 term graciously gifted a “Mustang” sculpture to the campus. The wall sculpture measures about 20″ by 30″ and is located just behind the library reference desk.

Another gift for the SMU in Taos campus that has found a home in the Fort Burgwin Library is a
painting given in honor of Governor William P. Clements Jr. The painting, by Gerald Nailor, is entitled Ambush at Agua Caliente. 1851. This was a historic battle that took place during the Season of the Winds in March 1851 where the Picuris and Apache fought the 23rd dragoons of the U.S. Army. The artist was born and raised at the Pueblo of Picuris and his paintings adorn 31 suites at the Hotel Santa Fe.