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Ramona Caplan - Oral history interview with Father Bob, transcript only, November 18, 2004

 File — Box: 3, Folder: 5

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The collection contains recorded oral history interviews, transcriptions, information about her career in history, academic research, writings, and some photographs.

A significant component of the collection is her interviews with Lee Marmon, in which he tells about his parents and grandparents, his time in the U.S. Army and how he got into photography. He also relates details about the history of Laguna Pueblo and Acoma Pueblo. Included are accounts of his parents' trading post and tourist cabins on Route 66. People (the Okies) traveling West to California during the Dust Bowl stopped in Laguna Pueblo, stayed with them and were assisted along their way by the generosity of his father and mother. Interviews were conducted with Richard Marmon, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gigi Marmon, Abe Pena and Alana McGrattan. Transcriptions for some but not all of these interviews are housed in the collection.

Caplan's research on the Bibo family and the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico as well as oral histories, documents, maps, photographs and a historical timeline from her M.A. thesis on the history of the Sevilleta de La Joya Land Grant are part of the collection as are her transcription of recordings of the 1998 Washita Custer Symposium panel discussion held at Cheyenne, Oklahoma upon the anniversary of the battlefield being designated a national historic site. Caplan's article about Sarah Campbell, aka Aunt Sally, an African American ex-slave pioneer in the Black Hills, South Dakota, who served with the Seventh Cavalry and General George Armstrong Custer, is included, as well as her 2007 interview with Brice Custer, grandnephew of General George Armstrong Custer, talking about Custer and the Little Bighorn battle.

In 2004-2005 Caplan interviewed Father Robert John Kirsch, aka Father Bob, for the Albuquerque Rotary Club. Father Bob tells about his life and his mission work with the St. Jude Express, the San Martin de Porres Flying Mission from Albuquerque to Chihuahua, Mexico.

Caplan also conducted oral histories with old timers for the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum in Las Cruces (2003-2009) and for the Valles Caldera National Preserve (2009-2014). Abstracts of these interviews are in this collection. The recordings and her transcriptions are located at New Mexico State University Library Special Collections in Las Cruces.

Caplan did extensive research on Cathay Williams / William Cathay, the Civil War, and Buffalo soldiers. She interviewed Ruth S. Steele, founder of the African American Martin Luther King, Jr. Museum in Pueblo, Colorado, to learn more about Williams' days there. There are also articles and background papers on the Buffalo Soldiers and Black women in military service.

Dates

  • November 18, 2004

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Extent

From the Collection: 7 boxes (3.5 cu. ft., plus 1 oversize folder)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Creator

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451