Santa Fe 'National Heritage Preservation Month begins May 1, a time to celebrate New Mexico's shared and diverse cultural heritage, the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division announced today.

Each year a theme is selected for the month's events, and illustrated on a poster available to the public. The 30th edition Cultural Diversity poster features a photograph of Alameta Williams who worked for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway in Clovis when renowned Farm Security Administration photographer Jack Delano photographed her in 1943 for his Great Depression-era portrait series of American workers.

"Our office tapped into the National Park Service initiative to better represent underserved communities in the National Register of Historic Places, and in the National Historic Landmarks and National Monuments programs for this year's theme," said Jeff Pappas, State Historic Preservation Officer and HPD director. "We encourage New Mexicans and people visiting our state to explore the state's historic architecture, archaeology, commercial districts and cultural landscape that illustrate multiple cultures merging to shape the identities of different parts of the state."

More than 45 events are listed in a Calendar of Events, which is posted on the Facebook pages of HPD and the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance. Several illustrate the theme, including multiple events at Fort Union that highlight the impact Native Americans, Buffalo Soldiers, and Anglo settlers and traders had on northwestern New Mexico. The Albuquerque Historical Society is hosting downtown walking tours each Saturday to explore how the railroad reshaped the city. A Cinco de Mayo festival at Mesilla Plaza, wine festivals, Mother's Day events, full-moon hikes, archaeological tours, adobe workshops, and scheduled viewings of bats emerging from Carlsbad Caverns are among events listed in the calendar, which can be downloaded from the division's website: www.nmhistoricpreservation.org.

The diversity theme was inspired partly by the Dunbar Elementary School's listing in the National Register in January and efforts to recognize a broader spectrum of the state's history. The school was built in 1926 in Vado ' the border town is New Mexico's only extant community established by African Americans ' at the height of segregation. NPS has provided cultural diversity grants for three years aimed at improving the representation of underserved communities in historic documentation.

Heritage Preservation Month was established in 1973 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This is the 35th consecutive year it has been celebrated in New Mexico.