For both visitors and residents, the topic of New Mexico's Crypto-Jews is of great interest. Earlier this week, as often, some folks from out of town came by to see what information we might have on the subject.
We have a few books in the collection which are relevant, none addressing the local aspect very directly. In addition, Henry Tobias's A History of the Jews in New Mexico, The Cross and the Pear Tree : a Sephardic Journey by Victor Perera, the little picture book Stones of Remembrance : the Historic Jewish Cemetery in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Trudi Alexy's The Marrano Legacy,and Judith van Giesen's mystery novel Land of Burning Heat also may be helpful in their very different ways.
We keep a file folder of clippings from the local paper and of copies of magazine articles, such as Stanley M. Hordes' article "The Sephardic Legacy in New Mexico: A History of the Crypto-Jews" (from Journal of the West, October, 1996), Barbara Ferry and Debbie Nathan's "Mistaken Identity? The Case of New Mexico's 'Hidden Jews'" (from Atlantic Monthly, December, 2000), and Seth Ward's "Converso Descendants in the American Southwest: A Report on Research, Resources, and the Changing Search for Identity" (1998 Conference of the European Association for Jewish Studies), which is also available in full text on the web.
Lastly, on our Local History web page we have gathered a number of links to websites with bibliographies and further links.
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