Santa Fe History Book Club

Come discuss historical readings with other history- and preservation-minded people.
Stay tuned for updates through out email blasts or email us to receive direct updates. The group is free and open to all.

December 2024 Book Club
Friday, December 13th, 2024

The Santa Fe 1912 City Plan: A "City Beautiful" and City Planning Document
by Harry Moul and Linda Tigges

Friday, December 13th, 2024
Travel Bug Bookstore

Featured discussion with
John Pen La Farge

This "book" is actually an article and available for free at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3213&context=nmhr

(or click the image to the right)

August 2024 Book Club
Friday, August 16th, 2024

A History of Spirituality
in Santa Fe
by Ana Pacheco

Friday, August 16th, 2024
Travel Bug Bookstore

Featuring a discussion
with the author

Book available for purchase via Ana Pacheco's website:
https://historyinsantafe.com/santa-fe-art-history-and-culture/

OSFA Book Club 2024
A Nuclear Family:
Coming of Age in Oppenheimer’s Secret City
by Ellen Bradbury-Reid and E. Marshall Wilder
Friday, May 10th, 2024
With Special Guest:
Ellen Bradbury-Reid, the author

This book is a collection of remembrances and stories about the early days of Los Alamos, NM and the development of the first atomic bombs. It is primarily told through the eyes of Ellen Wilder, a 6-year-old child whose father was sent by the Navy to a secret city in remote New Mexico and was directed by Robert Oppenheimer to help with the development of the explosive lens system that was needed to detonate the highly radioactive plutonium core of the weapon that was named Fat Man. There are numerous sub stories and histories told in the book concerning the people in and around Los Alamos, including the local Indians and Hispanics, as well as the scientists and engineers that did the work. Ellen, her father and family were fortunate enough to be able to closely interact with many of these key people that were able to develop the bombs in secrecy, given an essentially unlimited budget, but not knowing if the task was even possible and especially not knowing when the weapon had to be ready.

We ask you purchase the book at a local bookseller if possible.

2024 Calendar

New Mexico: An Interpretive History
by Marc Simmons (1937-2023)

Friday, February 23rd, 2024

Originally published in 1977 to commemorate the bicentennial of American Independence, Marc Simmons comes to an understanding of the state's character. An interpretive, sensitive, individual—and personal—account of our state's complex history.

For the Feb. 23rd meeting, please read as much of the book as you are able, but especially Chapter 6 and the Epilogue. It does not matter which edition of the book you read.

We ask you purchase the book at a local bookseller if possible.