Georgia Strickfaden, Sharon Snyder and Judith Machen answer questions during their panel discussion, ‘Los Alamos Through World War II.’ Photo by Nancy Bartlit

HSNM News:

The Historical Society of New Mexico’s (HSNM) Annual Conference in Las Vegas, N.M. last week drew record crowds, with a wide variety of educational sessions, fascinating tours of some of the town’s 900 historic buildings, and meals in such extraordinary sites as the recently refurbished Plaza Hotel and the Montezuma Castle at United World College.

Don Bullis, first vice president of HSNM, presents the Paul A. F. Walker award to John Ramsay. Photo by Nancy Bartlit

The Los Alamos Historical Society sponsored a session called “Los Alamos Through World War II,” which featured Georgia Strickfaden presenting new research on “The Girls from Las Vegas at the Manhattan Project;” Judith Machen sharing the differences between the Pajarito Plateau homesteaders and those in other areas in “Homesteading on the Pajarito Plateau, 1887-1942;” and author Sharon Snyder shedding light on “Ashley Pond in New Mexico, 1898-1933.” The session was well received by the standing-room-only audience.

Los Alamos Historical Society docent and board member John Ruminer presented his original research on the 400-year history of 109 East Palace Avenue as part of a session entitled, “New Mexico in Transition: The Occupation Period.”

Delving into records from the Spanish, Mexican and American periods, Ruminer has traced the ownership history of the property that served as a gateway to Los Alamos during World War II. An expanded version of his talk was presented May 13 at the Los Alamos Historical Society’s Annual Meeting.

Congratulations go to John Ramsay of Los Alamos, who received the Paul A. F. Walker Award for outstanding service to the Historical Society of New Mexico. Ramsey served as the long-time treasurer of the organization and indexed the HSNM newsletter, La Cronica.