In 1997, with the encouragement of Hispanic community leaders, local scholars, and NAU historians, NAU Cline Library began conducting oral history interviews with members of Flagstaff's community of Basque, Spanish and Mexican-Americans. Original photographs were often loaned to Cline Library for copying purposes by the families who were interviewed for this project. The families represented in this documentation include: the Irene Vasquez Henandez family, the Carmen Nunez Vergara family, the Jimenez Alonzo family, the Davila Mayorga Chavez family, the Vega Bobadilla Diaz family, the Martinez de Gomez family, the Gregorio Martinez family, the Francis O'Campo Ramirez family, the David Rodriguez Estrella family, the Alberto Almaraz and Carmen Almaraz Romero family, the Gutierrez Mayorga family, the Sanchez family, the Selsa Alonzo family, and the Pete Hernandez family. Photographs depict daily life, work, and special occasions.
Life-time Flagstaff resident and well-respected member of the Hispanic community and library staff member, Delia Ceballos Munoz, was chosen as the principal interviewer for this project. Her desire to share and document the stories of Flagstaff natives has become an ongoing labor of love. Cline Library hopes that more families will step forward with their stories and photographs in order to help preserve this important part of the region's heritage.
From the guide to the Los Recuerdos del Barrio en Flagstaff Collection, 1996-2000., (Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives Department.)
