A picture of the front entrance as we're crossing the street. Crazy how the 100 degree heat is not at all apparent from the photo. It was such a relief to be inside, where it was beautifully air conditioned.
This is from their large display of El Paso's medical history. There are (or have been) quite a number of hospitals in the city, going all the way back to the 1860s or so. The caption above this display of a bassinet used in one of the maternity wards says that the hospitals were often so crowded that babies were placed two to a bassinet. I wonder just how many babies ended up going home with the wrong parents!
A display of a doctor's bag. Above it is a set of forceps used for deliveries. *shudder* There were also a few video displays which talked about the history of obstetrics in El Paso and how hard the doctors and medical organizations worked to try to convince women to deliver in hospitals. They actually made propaganda videos to try to get women out of their homes and into the crowded, filthy hospitals! One video clip showed a doctor talking about how he had been a resident for two years and was now (then) perfectly capable of providing complete obstetrical care to the "indigent" of El Paso. The intern and I just looked at each other, speechless.
Not the clearest photo, but this is the room displaying items from El Paso's racing history. Apparently, back in the day, El Paso/Juarez was the place for drag racing and all kinds of car stuff. *yawn* I never did figure out why the plane was there.
An old race car.
I wish I could read the text from this display! It was a love letter written at the time of the Mexican Revolution between one of El Paso's power couples. The letter was written using wire from the telegraph lines.
The second floor of the museum was definitely interesting. The photos don't do it justice, but there were awesome displays about Pancho Villa and other characters of the revolution, El Paso's role as the literal and figurative bridge between two countries, the history of immigration in the area, how film was used to capture the war and history, maps of stolen land, etc. I love this kind of stuff. I could have stayed there for hours reading everything.
A view of the history room. I thought about my grandparents as I walked around the museum and what life on the Texas border was like for them. Borderland life is so fascinating to me. There was a lot to take in at the museum, but I'm so glad I went.
On our way back to the clinic, we got brave (and curious) and drove right up to one of the border crossings. This is less than a mile from our clinic and it is one of the bridges taking cars into Mexico. Notice how security is almost totally non-existent. Cars pay $2.00 to cross. They stop at the tollbooth, pay the fee, and they're in. All nice and neat. Coming back, however, is a whole other story.
4 comments:
Stolen land?
A multimedia post with plentiful pics - loved it. I'll leave the "stolen land" discussion between you and your brother-in-law. :)
Heh, no Louis, I'm not trying to engage in historical debate. I was just surprised that a state museum would use such polarizing language.
I hope you're doing well, Jen.
It wasn't so much the museum's language as the words used in the collection of written materials it was displaying. To the museum's credit, their displays seemed to be a fairly balanced representation of native versus "Anglo" views. The particular land that the "stolen" referred to were some of the areas of El Paso that the border came straight through, splitting families and communities in two. From talking to some of the locals, I get the sense that this is a particularly sensitive topic, even to this day.
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