Aztec Ruins Lecture Series May 21, 2010

The lecture is drawn from Weigle's forthcoming (Museum of New Mexico Press, September 2010) Alluring New Mexico: Engineered Enchantment, 1821-2001, a narrative history about developing tourism and attractions in the territory and state between the opening of the Santa Fe Trail and the Diamond Jubilee of Route 66. 20th-century Shiprock is compared to 19th-century Santa Fe Trail's Round Mound near Clayton, while White Sands is foreshadowed by 19th-century UFOs. Trinity Site has parallels at Four Corners, first marked in 1875, and at 19th-century Pecos Pueblo, which is compared to Carlsbad Caverns and their nearby nuclear waste "cavern" WIPP site.