Book launch for Learning Las Vegas A Museum of New Mexico Press event

Las Vegas translates as “The Meadows.” The name refers to the series of spacious grasslands fanning out from the slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Range where the mountains form the western terminus of the Great Plains. This fine location allowed Las Vegas, situated as it was on the Santa Fe Trail and with the arrival of the railroad, to become New Mexico’s handsomest, most prosperous town.

Throughout the opulent years from 1821 through the first decades of the 20th century, merchants and businessmen amassed considerable wealth in grain and lumber from Mora and San Miguel counties, along with wool, hides, and metals from the Pecos and Mesilla valleys. The region’s decline was spelled out by the rerouting of the railway along with changes in manufacturing. Today’s Las Vegas is a proud but fading shadow of its former self, captured in human terms, in families and memories, and still in the dreams of its people.

Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, an accomplished cultural historian and photographer, includes portraits of some 60 residents in her new book, Learning Las Vegas: Portrait of a Northern New Mexican Place, published by the Museum of New Mexico Press. To comprehend the layout of Las Vegas and study its architecture, Rogers walked its streets, exploring the outlying villages and ranches with traces of the Santa Fe Trail at Fort Union and elsewhere. To visualize its past, she delved deeply in archives and histories. To feel the pulse of the present, Rogers interviewed Las Vegans representing different cultural backgrounds, ages, and walks of life and immersed herself in local events and social gatherings. The result is an authentic portrait of a unique cultural place.

Join Rogers, Chris Wilson and Elmo Baca for a panel discussion on Las Vegas, NM, part of the launch for the book, at 2 pm on Saturday, June 22, in the History Museum Auditorium. (The event is free; attendees wishing to also see museum exhibits will need to pay admission.)

Panelists will bring to the table their unique insights and perspectives. A native Las Vegan, Elmo Baca will  give a brief perspective of the town, its character, and its history. Elizabeth Barlow Rogers will talk about her book as an exploration of the nature of place. An accomplished photographer, she will also show images of Las Vegas landmarks, people, and architecture. UNM professor Chris Wilson will speak about the exceptional character of Las Vegas' architectural heritage and the plaza as a gathering space and planning element in Hispanic Northern New Mexico cities.