“An Afternoon with Pedro Menendez”

The Threads of Memory Lecture Series

Santa Fe (Oct. 22, 2010) –Join New York actor Chaz Mena for a Chautauqua
performance as Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Spanish Florida’s first governor, at 2 pm
Sunday, Nov. 7, in the History Museum Auditorium. Part of the Threads of Memory
Lecture Series, this event is free with museum admission (Sundays free to NM
residents).

Mena is a New York-based actor who tours the country with two pieces underwritten by
the Florida Humanities Council: Charla, A Chat with José Martí and Menéndez: Claiming
La Florida. Mena, who played Judge Marc Montaldo on the NBC drama Law & Order,
has become an amateur historian on the first governor of Spanish Florida, in part by
reading his 16th-century letters to Spain's King Philip II.

"Menendez is important in a lot of ways: cartography, geography," Mena said. "He

founded six settlements and is responsible for making the seas outside of Spain safer for
commerce. I have accepted a lifelong commitment to learning about ... the Menendez
expedition and how it played out."

The lecture series accompanies the U.S. debut of the exhibit The Threads of Memory:
Spain and the United States (El Hilo de la Memoria: España y los Estados Unidos),
which features 138 rare documents, maps, illustrations and paintings – many of which
have never been displayed outside of Spain.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Fundación Rafael del Pino and, along with the Archivo
General de Indias (General Archive of the Indies), is co-organized with the State
Corporation for the Spanish Cultural Action Abroad (Sociedad Estatal para la Acción
Cultural Exterior, or SEACEX), in collaboration with Spain’s Ministries for Foreign Affairs
and Cooperation and Culture. The exhibition and lecture series are supported locally by
the city of Santa Fe, Wells Fargo Bank, Heritage Hotels, the College of Santa Fe and the
Palace Guard.

Photo above: Chaz Mena, courtesy photo. Download a high-resolution version of

this image here, and other images from the Threads of Memory exhibit at the Museum
of New Mexico Media Center.

Media contact: Kate Nelson

Marketing Manager
New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors
(505) 476-1141 or (505) 554-5722 (cell)
kate.nelson@state.nm.us
http://media.museumofnewmexico.org/

The New Mexico History Museum is the newest addition to a campus that includes the
Palace of the Governors, the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United
States; Fray Angélico Chávez History Library; Palace of the Governors Photo Archives;
the Press at the Palace of the Governors; and the Native American Artisans Program. A
division of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

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