Estevan Rael-Gálvez – Object Stories

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this segment of in the Voices de Aquí series, Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez introduces the idea of sharing objects, stories and photographs to create a community-based archive to strengthen community and culture. He shares two of his own stories of meaningful objects, a sewing machine oil can from his grandmother and a wool carder from grandfather.

These sharings took place on July 8, 2018 at the Memory Gathering Event facilitated by Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, at the Questa VFW. This collaborative event was hosted as part of the development of the Questa History Trail (a project of the Questa Creative Council); Questa Stories team supported the event hosting and was on scene recording stories and scanning photographs; the event was also part of an early stage of the Manitos Community Memory Project.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

Jeannie Masters – Grandmother’s Shoes

Posted on by Questa Stories

During the 2022 Questa Farmers Market season, we’re listening together to the voices of our neighbors. Every week we listen to a different short story from our community.

Jeannie Masters is our second segment in the “Voices de Aquí” series, in which she shares a poignant pair of shoes.

Voices de Aquí Segment 2: Jeannie Masters

Jeannie shared this object story on July 8, 2018 at the Memory Gathering Event facilitated by Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, at the Questa VFW. This collaborative event was hosted as part of the development of the Questa History Trail (a project of the Questa Creative Council); Questa Stories team supported the event hosting and was on scene recording stories and scanning photographs; the event was also part of an early stage of the Manitos Community Memory Project.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

Flavio shares the letter requesting his Mother’s Hand in Marriage

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this recording and images Flavio Cisneros shares a Letter that was written in February, 1925, requesting the marriage of his mother, Corina Gonzales (later Cisneros) to Francisco Cisneros. The letter was scribed on behalf of Francisco’s parents (Adelaida Montoya Cisneros and Gavino Cisneros who could not write) to Mclovio Gonzales and Rosita Velasquez Gonzales (Uncle and Grandmother of Corina Gonzales and her wards after her parents died in the flu epidemic in May 1918). The letter is written in phoenetic Spanish. Below are scans of the letter and its translation. (Click on any image to see enlarged versions.)

Thank you, Flavio for sharing this treasure!

Celestina Arellano Martinez’s “At Home Shoes” [Audio]

Posted on by Questa Stories

Celestina Arellano Martinez, originally from Costilla, owned two pairs of shoes; these were her “At Home Shoes.” They were shared by her granddaughter, Jeannie Sanchez Masters on July 8, 2018 at the VFW Hall in Questa at the “Community Memory and Story Sharing” event organized by Questa Stories and the Questa History Trail. Listen to Jeannie’s brief description in the audio recording below.