Mapmaking, Medicine and More: Scientists in New Spain The Threads of Memory Lecture Series

Spanish exploration couldn’t have happened without the help of navigators, cartographers, geologists, naturalists and other scientists. Learn about their explorations into medicinal plants (including the tequila-producing agave), ore-bearing rocks and more when California historian Iris H.W. Engstrand speaks on “Scientists in New Spain: 18th-Century Expeditions” at 6 pm Friday, Nov. 12 in the History Museum Auditorium. This free event is part of the Threads of Memory Lecture Series.

Engstrand, a history professor at the University of San Diego, was recently awarded the prestigious medal of the Order of Isabel la Católica by Juan Carlos, King of Spain, for outstanding contributions to the history of Spain in the Americas. She has lived and traveled extensively in Spain and Mexico while studying the histories of California, Mexico, Latin America and the Spanish Southwest, along with biology.

Her books include the award-winning San Diego: California’s Cornerstone; Spanish Scientists in the New World: The Eighteenth Century Expeditions; and William Wolfskill: Frontier Trapper to California Ranchero. Her article, “Of Fish and Men: Spanish Marine Science during the Late Eighteenth Century,” published in the Pacific Historical Review in 2000, won the Western History Association’s Bolton Award.  She has also appeared on the History Channel and local TV programs featuring San Diego History.

The lecture series accompanies the U.S. debut of the exhibit The Threads of Memory: Spain and the United States (El Hilo de la Memoria: España y los Estados Unidos), which features 138 rare documents, maps, illustrations and paintings – many of which have never been displayed outside of Spain.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Fundación Rafael del Pino and, along with the Archivo General de Indias (General Archive of the Indies), is co-organized with the State Corporation for the Spanish Cultural Action Abroad (Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior, or SEACEX), in collaboration with Spain’s Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Culture. The exhibition and lecture series are supported locally by the city of Santa Fe, BBVA Compass Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Heritage Hotels, Santa Fe University of Art and Design and the Palace Guard.

Upcoming in the Threads of Memory Lecture Series:

Sunday, Nov. 21, 2 pm: “Murder, Martyrdom, and the Struggle for La Florida: Rethinking Spanish Florida’s Mission History, 1565-1606,” lecture by Florida historian J. Michael Francis.

Sunday, Dec. 19, 2 pm: “Navio Quebrado: The Wreck of La Belle and the Failed French Colony in the Southwest,” lecture by maritime archaeologist Eric Ray.

Sunday, Jan. 2, 2 pm: “Kissin' Cousins: The Spanish Vihuela and the Modern Classical Guitar," performance by composer, guitarist and educator Greg Schneider.

Sunday, Jan. 9, 2 pm: “Tejiendo el Hilo: Weaving the Threads of History,” lecture by State Historian Rick Hendricks.