Architecture

The frontier spirit of New Mexico is celebrated in this memorable history of over two dozens forts and military outposts.

Life in early New Mexico was often perilous. Geographic isolation attracted outlaws and ruffians, and skirmishes often arose between the indigenous tribes and settlers. In response, the U.S. government set up military forts and outposts to protect its new citizens. These strongholds include Fort Craig, where logs were made to look like cannons to fool Confederate troops. Kit Carson, John Pershing and Billy the Kid all called Fort Stanton home, before it became the first federal tuberculosis sanatorium and later a detention center for German prisoners of war. Author Donna Blake Birchell relates little-known yet highly important Civil War battles, the tragedies of the Navajo and Mescalero Apache internments and other dramatic frontier stories.

Take a comprehensive tour of Fort Clark, Texas, one of best-preserved districts on the National Register of Historic Places. Thomas Jefferson recognized that a morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable. The Fort Clark Historic District, in Kinney County, Texas, is far more than a morsel. It is a full-course buffet of U.S. Army architecture, with more than one hundred well-preserved structures from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, some built to Quartermaster model plans, and many the only remaining examples in the nation. While most other Texas Indian War–era forts are long abandoned and reduced to nothing more than stark chimneys on the prairie, Fort Clark’s wide-ranging military architecture has survived virtually unchanged. Author William Haenn surveys the landmark site that represents nearly a century of active service to Texas and the nation.

Explore history, nature, and community.

Acequias, the ancient irrigation ditches first carved into the soil of New Mexico hundreds of years ago, are the lifeblood of Albuquerque. From the Native Americans who first cultivated the soil to the Spanish invaders who expanded on their efforts, these waterways reflect the history and impact of settlers on the natural landscape. They also provide the perfect place for a quiet walk. Protected since 1986, the acequia system provides a refuge for native plants and animals like cottonwood trees, coyotes and porcupines, while Spanish imports like vineyards, sheep and horses have found their place along them.

Join historian Joyce Salisbury and trail guide Kim Hafermalz as they share the wonders of the acequias that shape and sustain the city of Albuquerque.

Trace the rustic roots and regal rafters of Preston Hollow’s past for a fascinating profile of this distinctive Dallas neighborhood.

It takes only a brief drive past the stately homes that line Preston Hollow’s winding tree-lined streets to understand the neighborhood’s appeal. Glimpse the rich farmland that stunned Ira DeLoache on his fortuitous 1922 flight over the countryside. Revisit the early days of the pre-annexation town, when citizens relied on septic tanks and a volunteer fire department. Stop by institutions like Lobello’s Bar-B-Que or the Northwest Hi-Way Drive-In Theatre and attend Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church’s first service. From the architectural legacy of Charles Dilbeck to the destructive path left by the 2019 tornado, author Jack Walker Drake relates the heritage of a premier Dallas neighborhood.

Witness the evolution of Albuquerque from the perspective of its birthplace, the historic Old Town Plaza. Explore the rich architectural heritage and traditions that frame the bustling tourist attraction that is Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza. Learn to navigate the district by the original street names and property owners of the settlement. Survey the square from the basket of a hot air balloon suspended 14,207 feet above the 1882 Territorial Fair. Or gain a deeper appreciation for the legacy of venerable landmarks like San Felipe de Neri Church down to the mixing of the adobe plaster. With rare photographs and a detailed account of each historic structure, author Debra Montoya maps out how the Old Town Plaza became what it is today.

Dallas has a reputation as a progressive city—always ready to build something new and better to replace the old.

In the late 19th century, as Dallas became the transportation and commercial center for North Texas, brick and stone edifices supplanted the simple frame structures of the early days. By the 1920s, the city was the financial capital of the region and boasted the tallest building west of the Mississippi. In 1936, Dallas hosted the Texas Centennial Exposition in Fair Park, an ensemble of art deco buildings that is a National Historic Landmark. As business grew, so did the skyline. Today Dallas has a rich collection of historic buildings that chronicle the city's growth and progress.

Albuquerque's response to Modernism—the architectural avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century—was complex and varied.

The growing city looked to the new as well as the mythic past characterized by the Santa Fe style. The result was rarely restricted to one cultural tradition. Influences include forms and motifs from a variety of intermixed cultural and social collisions. The result can be sophisticated, as with the Albuquerque Indian Hospital, or homespun, like the Shaffer Hotel in Mountainair. This book celebrates the cultural mixing of various Native American, Hispanic, and 19th- and 20th-century Anglo American forms and motifs unique to Albuquerque during the first half of the 20th century.

Author Mike Butler has included over 180 photographs depicting the rich history of Taos and the Enchanted Circle Byway in this stunning collection.

New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment, so it is appropriate that the state has an Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway. The 84-mile circular route crosses the Sangre de Cristo Mountains twice and is anchored in Taos. While the creation of the byway is a modern-day tourist development, the history of the area goes back at least 1,000 years to the creation of Taos Pueblo. The ancient Puebloans built a five-story adobe structure on the banks of the Rio Pueblo, still standing today just north of the present town of Taos. The village of Taos hosted trade fairs in the early 1800s with attendance by the Puebloans, fur traders, and other native tribes of the area. The 1900s witnessed the arrival of artists drawn by the beautiful scenery and native culture. Other historic towns of the Enchanted Circle grew up around short-lived gold and silver mines. 

Mike Butler has sourced images from the Library of Congress, the Huntington Library, and local collections. He is also the author of High Road to Taos, Around the Spanish Peaks, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Southern Colorado: O.T. Davis Collection, and Littleton. 

Over one hundred photographs capture the lives of those who once claimed Arizona's Verde Valley as home.

Verde Valley is regarded as one of Arizona’s most beautiful and scenic areas, with its red rock vistas and cultural heritage. From Sedona to Jerome to Camp Verde and other towns in between, Verde Valley attracts scores of visitors and new residents every year. The area’s history and culture are also reflected in its simple but deeply reverent burial grounds, where many of the Verde Valley’s early pioneers are buried. Verde Valley burials include ranchers, farmers, civic leaders, and many others, such as Sedona Schnebly, for whom the town is named, and Arizona governor Raul Castro. Additionally, some isolated burials are noted. 

Discover the iconic theaters of Tulsa, Oklahoma through historic images that bring flickering memories into sharper focus.

Going to the movies has always been special. Tulsa’s first theater opened in 1906 with a lineup of silent reels and live vaudeville entertainment. During the next two decades, dozens of movie houses opened downtown, including the “Big Four:” the Ritz, Orpheum, Majestic, and Rialto. As Tulsa grew, neighborhood theaters, including the Brook, Delman, and Will Rogers, became favorites. Drive-in theaters soon followed around the city boundaries. In 1965, Tulsa’s first multiplex—the Boman Twin—opened. Tulsans experienced blockbuster films at these theaters with multiple screens and increasingly smaller auditoriums. Tulsa also hosted star-studded movie premieres. Among them were The Outsiders and the 1949 premiere of Tulsa, featuring the biggest parade and crowd in Tulsa’s history. Perhaps the most well-known theater—the Dreamland on Black Wall Street—was destroyed during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Although it was rebuilt, images of the Dreamland in ruins are iconic.

With a lifelong love of movie theaters, coauthor Steve Clem grew up attending Saturday Westerns at the Rialto and Disney films at the Delman. As a museum curator, coauthor Maggie Brown has researched and designed nearly 150 exhibits on Tulsa history, including several featuring movie theater history. The Tulsa Historical Society and Museum is filled with artifacts from Tulsa’s past, including many photographs of theaters shared in this book.

Albuquerque's response to Modernism—the architectural avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century—was complex and varied.

The growing city looked to the new as well as the mythic past characterized by the Santa Fe style. The result was rarely restricted to one cultural tradition. Influences include forms and motifs from a variety of intermixed cultural and social collisions. The result can be sophisticated, as with the Albuquerque Indian Hospital, or homespun, like the Shaffer Hotel in Mountainair. Enjoy the rich architectural history of Albuquerque and its unique cultural mixing of various Native American, Hispanic, and 19th- and 20th-century Anglo American forms and motifs in 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

Anyone interested in the founding of libraries across the country will delight in delving into Prescott Public Library, which showcases the pivotal role the establishment played in the Arizona city's history. The Prescott Public Library was created in 1917 when the City of Prescott took over management of the formerly private library. Prescott was established in the middle of the Civil War when Union sympathizers found gold in the Bradshaw Mountains. Even in those Wild West days, territorial secretary Richard McCormick brought with him a wagon full of 300 books, establishing a library that would become the lifeblood of the territorial capital. The Prescott Library Association was founded in 1870, and it was at the helm of the Monday Club (established 1890) that a library building was constructed. This became the Carnegie Library in 1903, the first approved in the state of Arizona. This library opened with 1,300 books in its collection. In the last century, the Prescott Public Library has grown with Prescott. Now located on Goodwin Street, the library contains over 113,000 items in its collection and serves its patrons in new and exciting ways. With more to share in the future, Prescott Public Library welcomes everyone into “Prescott’s Living Room.” 

Kristen Kauffman is a librarian in Prescott and a guest writer with Sharlot Hall Museum’s Days Past articles. Several of the photographs that did not come from the Prescott Public Library’s photograph archives are used with generous permission from the Sharlot Hall Museum.