Hendricks, Rick

English

UNM Open Journals Portal (The University of New Mexico)

Hendricks  / Southwest Talks            1
Southwest Talks
The New Mexico Historical Review Interview Series
Rick HendRicks
Interviewed by Candolin Cook
•
Q: How did you become interested in the history of the Southwest and Latin 
America?
When I was a very young reader, my grandmother gave me a book about Latin 
America. I recall being fascinated by the idea of Mexico City originally being 
built on a lake, and as I tried to imagine and investigate how that could be pos-
sible, I found the region to be a wonderland that was new and different to a boy 
from the mountains of western North Carolina.
As an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, I read 
Samuel Shellabarger’s 1945 historical novel, Captain from Castile. It is not a great 
book as historical novels go, but it fired my curiosity and really made me want 
to know more about the history of Spain and colonial Mexico in the sixteenth 
century. The book also fueled a lifelong exploration of historical fiction as a way 
to study and teach history. The main character in the novel is the fictional Pedro 
de Vargas, a nineteen-year-old soldier in Hernán Cortés’s army during the con-
quest of Tenochtitlan. I find it a curious coincidence that I spent my early career 
working with a real life Vargas, New Mexico governor Diego de Vargas.
I turned my attention to the Southwest in a serious way when I came to 
UNM [the University of New Mexico] in 1979, largely because Peter Bakewell 
covered the northern expansion into the Southwest in his class on the history 
Dr. Rick Hendricks is the State Historian of New Mexico and an award-winning author. His 
most recent books are The Casads: A Pioneer Family of the Mesilla Valley (Rio Grande Books, 
2012); and Four Square Leagues: Pueblo Indian Land in New Mexico (University of New Mex-
ico Press, 2014), co-authored with Malcolm Ebright and Richard W. Hughs.
2           New Mexico Historical Review / Volume 90, Number 1, Winter 2015
of Mexico in the colonial period. I would say that I came to the history of the 
area from the perspective of a Latin Americanist, and I have always consid-
ered the U.S. Southwest as the northern extension of Latin America, which 
has interesting implications given the demographic changes we are witnessing 
in the region today.
Q: You studied history at the University of North Carolina, the University of 
New Mexico, and the Universidad de Sevilla in Spain. Who were/are your big-
gest educational influences?
At Chapel Hill I was most strongly influenced by three individuals. Roberto 
Etchepareborda was an Argentine diplomat and historian who impressed upon 
me the need to be able to read primary sources in their original language. 
Enrique Baloyra was a Cuban exile, a political scientist who taught a memora-
ble course on revolutionary Cuba. He cared about his students, and that meant 
a lot to me. It is an experience that many of my fellow students had with him.
By singling out Professors Etchepareborda and Baloyra, I in no way want 
to minimize the influence of the other professors of Latin American studies at 
Chapel Hill in the 1970s when I was there. Federico G. Gil, Joseph S. Tulchin, 
and John D. Martz are other leading figures I recall from that period. Only Dr. 
Tulchin survives from this “golden age” of Latin American studies at UNC. 
Finally, Anthony G. Lo Ré was a Spanish professor, friend, and mentor. He per-
suaded me to study at the Universidad de Sevilla, which proved a transformative 
experience for a variety of reasons, not least because it gave me the proficiency 
in Spanish that has made the work I do possible. In Sevilla I met and studied 
with Luis Navarro García, one of the leading Spanish historians of Spain in the 
New World, who was at the time Catedrático [professor] in the Sección de His-
toria de América. I have had occasion to visit with him there since my student 
days, most notably on the occasion of a visit with tribal dignitaries from Sandia 
Pueblo some years ago.
When I returned to Chapel Hill from Spain and finished my undergraduate 
degree in history, Dr. Lo Ré suggested that I attend UNM to study with Marshall 
Nason for my PhD. Dr. Nason and Dr. Lo Ré were old friends from their days at 
Louisiana State University after World War II. Dr. Nason, a distinguished pro-
fessor of Spanish literature, was very important to my formation as a scholar, 
principally because he insisted that I know every word in every text we studied. 
This attention to detail has served me well in the study and translation of histor-
ical documents. He also stressed the importance of taking pride in my scholarly 
production if I expected anyone to take my work seriously. This is an important 
lesson I incorporated into my teaching and advising.
Hendricks  / Southwest Talks            3
Dr. Nason directed the Ibero-American Studies PhD program, which was a 
very demanding interdisciplinary program combining the history of the colonial 
and national periods in Latin America with Spanish and Portuguese language and 
literature. In my mind this was the ideal preparation for the career path I chose. 
The biggest influence at UNM, however, was unquestionably Peter Bakewell, an 
exemplary researcher and writer. Dr. Bakewell sent me off to Bolivia in the sum-
mer of 1980 where I earned my stripes as a budding Latin Americanist by follow-
ing in his footsteps in the archives and surviving a bloody military coup.
I would be remiss if I did not add that my colleagues at the Vargas Project, 
John L. Kessell and Meredith D. Dodge, taught me as much or more than any 
professors I studied with over the years.
Q: Your career as a historian has taken many forms: archivist, professor, author, 
editor, historical consultant, and, currently, State Historian of New Mexico. Do 
you have any advice for someone attempting to become a professional historian, 
particularly beyond the professoriate?
This will sound trite, but I have some rather simple suggestions. I find useful 
the quote attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens 
when preparation meets opportunity.” I always advise people to prepare as thor-
oughly as possible so that when opportunities present themselves, they will be 
ready to seize them. In my case, years of language study and practice with pale-
ography were necessary for me to function as a competent historian of colonial 
Latin America. Such technical skills are a necessary complement to knowledge 
of the period. My first opportunity to work as a professional historian was as a 
paleographer and translator with the Vargas Project. As it turned out, the job 
was a perfect fit, but had I not been adequately prepared, I would not have been 
able to join that historical editing project, and the long, unorthodox trajectory 
of my career might have taken a very different course or gone nowhere.
I have been extremely fortunate, but I do not recommend sitting around 
waiting for opportunity to knock. Often times it is necessary to manufacture 
a chance at a job. Historic preservation is a field that requires historians, often 
highly specialized ones. Writing successful historical contexts for nominations 
to state and national registers requires considerable knowledge of federal and 
state regulations, highly developed research skills, careful attention to detail, 
and excellent writing. Getting involved in a community project to nominate 
historic structures is one good way to get a start in the profession. Archaeo-
logical firms contracted to do cultural resource management and mitigation 
work routinely need historians. Here in New Mexico, lawyers rely on historians 
for expert witness testimony in legal cases, particularly those relating to land 
4           New Mexico Historical Review / Volume 90, Number 1, Winter 2015
grants. Museums also require historians. Volunteering as a docent is a good way 
to learn about that kind of work.
Irrespective of the type of work, I believe it is crucial for historians to write 
well, and the only way to accomplish that is to work at it, every day if possible. 
I embrace the kernel of truth in two clichés: great writers are not born, they are 
edited, and great writers are great readers. I am not a great writer, but I work at 
it daily, and I am always reading books. I enjoy reviewing manuscripts for uni-
versity presses and academic journals and usually have one or two going.
Q: What have you read recently that you would recommend to scholars of 
Southwest history?
John L. Kessell’s new book, Miera y Pacheco: A Renaissance Spaniard in Eigh-
teenth-Century New Mexico (University of Oklahoma Press, 2013), is perhaps 
his best writing. Danna A. Levin Rojo’s Return to Aztlan: Indians, Spaniards, 
and the Invention of Nuevo México (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014) chal-
lenges long-held notions about the inspiration for the Spanish advance into the 
Southwest. David L. Caffey’s Chasing the Santa Fe Ring: Power and Privilege in 
Territorial New Mexico (University of New Mexico Press, 2014) is the first book-
length study of the Ring. As is so often the case, no one has tackled this con-
troversial subject before, and now we have this book and at least two more on 
the same subject are in progress. Finally, Carlos Herrera, another former col-
league on the Vargas Project, has a new study on Governor Juan Bautista de 
Anza called Juan Bautista de Anza: The King’s Governor in New Mexico, which 
the University of Oklahoma Press will be publishing very soon.
Q: What do you think about the state of history focused on the U.S. Southwest/
Borderlands today? Where do you see the field headed?
I am in contact with many young students of the history of the Southwest/Bor-
derlands, and I think the field is in robust health and in very good hands indeed. 
The Historical Society of New Mexico, the Center for Regional Studies at UNM, 
and my office (Office of the State Historian) support what we call the Scholars’ 
Program, which provides stipends for research in New Mexico archival repos-
itories. Although not limited to young scholars, I have been heartened by the 
fact that dozens of students pursuing advanced degrees are focusing on prac-
tically every imaginable aspect of the history of the region. We have students 
from the top universities in the country doing historical research and writing on 
New Mexico topics all through the year, every year.
Although I have no idea where the field is headed, I can say that I have noted 
some trends in the way recent historiography has developed. Most of the pioneers 
Hendricks  / Southwest Talks            5
in New Mexico history focused on the earliest periods, the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, which seems eminently logical to me. In recent years, with the 
notable exception of the astounding and prolific work of Richard Flint and Shir-
ley Cushing Flint on all things related to the Coronado Expedition, there seems 
to me to be more of an interest in exploring the eighteenth century. The works 
I mentioned above by Kessell and Herrera are but two examples of this trend. 
This has been accompanied by renewed interest in what Pekka Hämäläinen has 
felicitously called the Comanche Empire. Severin Fowles, an archaeological 
anthropologist, is working on a study of what he refers to as Comanche imperi-
alism in eighteenth-century New Mexico.
Q: Your most recent book, The Casads: A Pioneer Family of the Mesilla Valley, 
details the extraordinary life of Thomas Casad and his family as they made their 
way from Ohio to Mesilla, New Mexico. Casad eventually became one of the 
most powerful agriculturalists and land-owners in southern New Mexico. What 
did you find most surprising or intriguing about Casad’s story?
I have always been something of a skeptic when it comes to the reliability of 
oral history and family lore. I think this is a result of being a documentary edi-
tor for almost two decades. What I found remarkable in researching and writ-
ing this book was how accurate the stories provided to me about Tom Casad by 
members of the extended family could be. This was a confirmation for me of the 
value of this kind of information. At the same time, I was also able to see how 
historical memory faded and mutated as the generations passed and the facts 
became altered in subtle but meaningful ways as the tale was told and retold. So, 
as a historian I would say that I have a new appreciation for such sources but 
retain a degree of skepticism after writing this book.
I would also say that the availability of primary source material on the Inter-
net has truly revolutionized the way I do research. I traveled to Ohio, Illinois, 
Kansas, and California to gather material for this book, but I was able to do 
more work than I dreamed possible at my personal computer. After decades 
spent in front of a microfilm reader, this was a most pleasing development.
Q: What are you working on next?
Malcolm Ebright, Richard Hughes, and I completed Four Square Leagues: Pueblo 
Indian Land in New Mexico, which UNM Press has just published. Assistant State 
Historian Robert D. Martínez and I have a book of prenuptial investigations 
from the colonial period in the El Paso del Norte area that is in press. Rob and 
I are beginning a study of the clergy in late colonial New Mexico, which will 
6           New Mexico Historical Review / Volume 90, Number 1, Winter 2015
probably occupy us for a few years. Steve Baker, an archeologist from south-
western Colorado, and I have a book in press, a study of Juan Antonio María 
Rivera’s two 1765 expeditions into southern Colorado. Steve has done an exten-
sive trail and ethnographic study, and I have transcribed and translated the 
journals of the trips. I am also finally finishing a life-and-times study of a Span-
ish priest, Antonio Severo Borrajo, who lived in the U.S.-Mexico border region 
during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Q: Although you are a North Carolina native, you decided to make New Mexico 
your home. What do you love about it?
I grew up in one of the most beautiful places on earth, in the Smokey and Blue 
Ridge Mountains. As a youth I spent most of my time in the woods and learned 
the name of every tree and rock. My hometown was near the Qualla Boundary, 
home of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. I never expected to live any-
where else, but during college I lived in Spain and learned to love the language, 
people, and culture. So, even though the physical environment of New Mexico 
is about as different from where I came from as is possible, there were many 
things about my new home that were familiar. To that I would add that the 
tacos my mother made when I was a kid were so hot that they brought tears to 
my eyes, which was good preparation for the world of red and green chile. And 
when I needed to experience a southeastern forest, I hiked up into the Sandias, 
and that was close enough.
Since my arrival in New Mexico in the summer of 1979, I have been privileged 
to live and work in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and now Santa Fe. I have worked 
at UNM and at NMSU [New Mexico State University]. I believe this gives me a 
different perspective on the history of the state than folks who have stayed close 
to home, to their patria chica, whether in the north, center, or south of the state. 
My permanent home with my family and dogs is in Las Cruces, and one day I 
will retire there. From my house, I have a clear view of the Organ Mountains. I 
know the light of Northern New Mexico is special and has attracted artists from 
all over the world, but the light play and rapidly changing hues on the Organs 
can be so stunning, so painfully beautiful that it will take your breath away. The 
Rio Grande is close by, and I often walk for miles and miles along the river. Even 
when there is no water, which has been the case for most months for the last few 
years, there is a stark beauty in that river as there is in much of the desert south. 
I have been in a thirty-five-year love affair with the history of this place, and I do 
not expect that to change. 


Southwest Talks: The New Mexico Historical Review Interview Series

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