EL PASO MUSEUM OF HISTORY
510 N. Santa Fe • 915 351-3588 • elpasotexas.gov/history
The Arrival of the First Train to El Paso
by Prince McKenzie, director of the El Paso Railroad Museum
Saturday, October 1, 2011 • 2-3:30 p.m. • Free
In 2009, a rare Tom Lea drawing that depicts the arrival of the first train to El Paso was loaned to the El Paso Museum of History by the Henry Taylor Family. The detailed pen-and-ink illustration was initially created for the 75th anniversary of the El Paso Times in 1956. Lea’s illustration will be unveiled as a new addition to the Transportation Gallery, followed by a presentation on the historic event it commemorates and a discussion of Engine #1, the train Lea used as a model for his drawing. A downtown tour will follow, culminating in a visit to the El Paso Railroad Museum to see Engine #1. Families are welcome to this presentation and can enjoy hands-on activities that show how a conductor signals with his lantern and what train whistles and bells mean.
Train, 1956, pen and ink
Collection of Henry and Pat Taylor
on loan to the El Paso Museum of History
Benito Juárez to Chiang Kai-Shek: Tom Lea’s Historic Portraits and the Stories Behind Them
by Adair Margo, president of the Tom Lea Institute
Saturday, October 8, 2011 • 2-3:30 p.m. • Free
Tom Lea did not paint portraits for hire, once telling a friend that “to own one of my portraits, you don’t have to be rich, just interesting.” Over his lifetime, Lea painted some of the world’s most interesting personalities including General Claire Chennault, Jimmy Doolittle, and Madame and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek. He also painted close friends J. Frank Dobie, Bill Burrows, Charles Leavell, Carl Hertzog and Catalan sculptor Urbici Soler. Margo, who recorded Lea’s oral history in 1993, will relay the reverence Lea felt for portraiture and the personalities behind the faces he chose to paint.
Bambi Ellis, 1933, oil on canvas, 30x25
Collection of the El Paso Museum of Art
The History of Sotol and Its Relationship to its Environment
Historia del Sotol y Su Relación con el Entorno
Sponsored by Sotol Generaciones
with the Tom Lea Institute, the University Autonoma de Ciudad Juárez and the Mexican Consulate
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 • 5-8 p.m. • Invitation only
Tom Lea often painted the distinctive sotol in his landscapes of Chihuahua, Mexico. Learn how to recognize the plant while also discovering the generations-old tradition of turning its juice into what is known as the nectar of the Spanish colonies. There will be a tasting of Don Cuco Sotol – a 100% natural beverage made in Janos, Chihuahua – and a lecture on its history and culture, by Jorge Chavez and Tomas Cuevas, professors of the UACJ (Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez).
Henry C. Trost and the Gage Hotel
by J. P. Bryan
and
Henry C. Trost and El Paso’s Architecture
by Morris Brown, AIA
Saturday, October 22, 2011 • 2-3:30 p.m. • Free
Held in collaboration with Archtober
After studying draftsmanship at Chicago’s firm of Adler and Sullivan, where Frank Lloyd Wright also studied, Henry C. Trost moved to El Paso in 1904, finding his greatest inspiration designing buildings adapted to the “arid southwest.” Trost and Trost established itself as the main architectural firm in the Southwest. In 1916 he built the home for Mayor Tom Lea at 1400 Nevada. In back-to-back presentations, architect Morris Brown and J. P Bryan, owner of the Trost designed Gage Hotel in Marathon, Texas, will share insights into the design genius of Henry C. Trost and the impact his firm had on El Paso and the southwest.
The National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas
Saturday, October 29, 2011 • 2-3:30 p.m. • Free
Originally named the Admiral Nimitz Museum, the National Museum of the Pacific War is a world-class experience with the addition of the George H. W. Bush Gallery. The museum tells the full story of the Pacific War: China, the Guadalcanal campaign, Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raid, Coral Sea and Midway, and Peleliu—stories that Tom Lea also told through the eye-witness accounts he painted for Life magazine. Richard Koone, education coordinator for the museum, will share the story of the Pacific War and Tom Lea’s place in it. Families are welcome and can enjoy using hands-on stations including period maps, telegraph keys for Morse Code, WWII airplane spotter cards and historic photos.