Cuadernos volume I issue 1 - Nombrando la Muerte - Dispatches from Taos County, 1918

Title
Cuadernos volume I issue 1 - Nombrando la Muerte - Dispatches from Taos County, 1918
Description
The year 2020 was defined by the COVID-19 global pandemic which decimated many Manito families and communities. In 2020, the Manito Community Memory Project (MCMP), with support from the American Recovery Act, National Endowment for the Humanities, initiated a series of publications, designed and illustrated by two MCMP graphic design interns, to help Manitos address the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic through connection to their history, cultural heritage, and to each other.

Nombrando la Muerte, Issue One, Volume One of the publication series, reprints lists of names of the dead that were published in November and December 1918 in the weekly Spanish language newspaper La Revista de Taos, connecting the COVID-19 crisis to the story of the 1918 global influenza pandemic known as the Spanish flu. The cuadernos format pays homage to the small journals or notebooks traditionally used by Manitos to record all kinds of information.

The cover image of Nombrando la Muerte depicts Doña Sebastiana, or La Muerte, is widely-recognized by Manitos as a female personification of death. Her skeletal figure, usually carved from wood, is dressed in a shroud and armed with a bow and arrow. She rides in a two-wheeled carreta de la muerte, or death cart.

In the background of the cover image lies the Taos Valley landscape dotted by traditional adobe houses at the foot of the majestic mountains. The central image is surrounded by a border of red hollyhocks, flowers beloved for their colorful blooms that flourish in gardens throughout the region despite the arid climate and poor soil. Hollyhocks and other local flora decorate the pages throughout the cuaderno.
Rights Holder
Manitos Community Memory Project
Creator
Manitos Community Memory Project, Estevan Rael-Galvez, Project Director
Date Created
2021
Format
PDF
Language
English
Spanish
Publisher
Manitos Community Memory Project
Contributor
Mimi Roberts, Project Manager
Shane Flores, Project Researcher
Natasha Vasquez, Graphic Artist
Lily Padilla, Graphic Artist
Mariah Fox Hausman, Graphic Arts Mentor
Spatial Coverage
Northern New Mexico & Southern Colorado