A proclamation was read at the Village Council meeting on Nov. 16 that announced Mary Pietsch Davis as the Official Historian for the Village of Corrales. Mary Davis writes “Corrales Chronicles” for the Historical Society and Corrales Comment.
She is the author of Hometown Corrales: A Family Album tells the story of Corrales, New Mexico through the lives of many of its long-time families. The fifty-eight families profiled in the book are introduced by a brief Corrales history, providing a context for their stories. Some families trace their histories back to the early eighteenth century Hispanic founders Others came later throughout the nineteenth century and were later joined by French and Italian immigrants. Later arrivals—professionals and artists including professional photographers Dick Kent and Harvey Caplin—came after World War II. Interspersed throughout the family sections are sidebars discussing aspects of Corrales history such as an early nineteenth century militia, the Adobe Theatre, Depression-era recipes, and the Seventh-day Adventist Sandia View Academy.
Davis is also the author of a book on Corrales in the Arcadia Publishing series Images of America (2010) and co-authored with Kathryn Sargeant Shining River Precious Land, a popular book of oral histories from Albuquerque’s North Valley. Davis served as the historic preservation planner with the City of Albuquerque for nearly twenty years and has served as the chair of the Corrales Historical Society Archives Committee.