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Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on the Corrales Historical Society, which is celebrating 50 years in 2023.

By T.S. Last, Corrales Comment

Mary Davis literally wrote the book on Corrales – with the help of other members of the Corrales Historical Society. The 2010 book published by Arcadia Publishing Library Editions chronicles the settling of the village named for the corrals frontier families used to keep livestock. There’s focus on the families that descended from the original grant holder, Juan Gonzales Bas, its agricultural roots, and its evolution into a suburban oasis on the edges of the state’s biggest city and fastest growing city.

Davis is also the official village historian and an active member of the Corrales Historical Society, which celebrated 50 years at its annual meeting Nov. 18 at the historic Old San Ysidro Church it was created to preserve. She’s in charge of archives for the organization. And she contributes a semi-monthly “Corrales Chronicles, I Never Knew That!” series in the Corrales Comment.

“I just think local history is the best,” she said during an extended interview at the old church. “To know where you live, to know what it has to offer. It’s that appreciation for the unique story that every town has and understanding where you are.”

Davis grew up in Delaware and Denver and attended Oberlin College in Ohio with a history degree. She worked for a publisher in New York, taught preschool and seemed set on becoming a middle school teacher.

“Luckily, it always comes down to who you know,” she said, A connection led her out West for a secretarial job with the Albuquerque Historical Landmark Survey. She went on to become a historic preservation planner for the city.

Along with her husband they settled in Corrales.

“I love living here, It’s always been a tolerant village – mostly tolerant. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

Recording history

Naturally, her love for local history and expertise in historic preservation led her to get involved with the Corrales Historical Society. Chris Allen got her involved, she remembered, and participated in a mudding day of the old church. A central part of the society’s mission to preserve the church, which was built in 1868.

Davis recounted some of the events left out of Part I of this series involving the old church. Like the Archdiocese of Santa Fe held its last Mass there in 1961 before moving into the new church; the old church was placed on the State Register of Cultural Properties in 1979 and the National Register of Historical Places a year later; the $1,500 raised for by leasing the property for the filming of “Nakia” that was used for the down payment; the Adobe Theater using the church as its base from 1974-87, providing a little bit of income to help sustain efforts; and the undertaking in the aftermath to restore the sanctuary, replace the floor and re-mud the walls inside and out.

“That was kind of a big thing we did,” she said of the latter.

Also integral to the historical society’s efforts was the addition of the annex, which provides office and storage space and restroom facilities for visitors. The annex was built with help from a generous donation by the Pijon family, she said.

She also corrected the Comment on its reporting that the church was owned by the historical society. In fact, the village owns the building and the society manages it.

Davis became a historical society board member in 2000 and helped start Heritage Days, an annual celebration of the village’s past since 2005. She is now mostly focused on preserving and expanding the society’s archives, which is largely contained in two filing cabinets and a shelf with some three-ring binders inside the church’s annex building.

“They’re organized by agriculture, government, politics, buildings, families and all the interesting people that have lived in Corrales over the decades,” she said.

As years went by, some of the archives have been transferred to digital forms. The society has also produced videos highlighting the history and has filmed some of the old-timers to capture the oral history of the families that have lived in the area.

The future of Corrales history

At some point, those oral histories and other aspects of Corrales’ past could be preserved digitally and be made available for people to view at the Old Church. 

Ken Martinez, the society’s president, said they’ve been working with Ideum, a Corrales-based company that makes custom interactive exhibits for museums, science centers and educational exhibits all over the world.

A few weeks from now, the Old Church’s function as a museum will be enhanced by an interactive information board donated by Ideum. 

“Jim Spadaccini has been engaged in working with us so we can make our digital archives much more accessible to the public,” Martinez said. “Instead of pictures on poster board, we can have pictures on an interactive display that people can use themselves.”

Martinez said he hoped the new technology would be introduced sometime early next year.

“We still have to populate it with data and we’re still deciding what aspects we’ll cover,” he said. “We’ll start small and grow as we understand how we can best use the technology.”

Spadaccini said Ideum is working on the first foray right now and expects it to make its debut in January.

“We’re using a drafting table model; it’s sort of a kiosk on wheels,” he said. “They will need that flexibility because the church is used for so many different purposes.”

Spadaccini said his company has designed, manufactured and programmed such units for other groups free of charge.

“This is exciting because a lot of us live in this community but don’t know its rich history,” he said. “For us, it’s a great way to give back to the community.”

Still on a mission

While preserving history is part of its mission, the Corrales Historical Society grew out of an effort to preserve the old church and that work continues.

“This past year we professionally re-mudded the church and we hope to do the interior this coming year,” he said. “That’s a much more costly effort. The walls are beginning to crack inside. We’re needing to make sure that it’s good and safe.”

They’ve done it for 50 years. With a host of dedicated volunteers like Davis and too many others to name, the Corrales Historical Society will be around to preserve the Old Church, and Corrales’ rich history, for years to come.

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