Relational Memory Historiography and the Limits of the Archive

By Ruben Q. Leyva

Historians of Apache history have long recognized a problem. The same leaders appear under different names, and the same communities are labeled Chíhéne, Mescalero, Gileño, or Chokonen depending on the record. Figures move across categories that do not hold steady over time.

Edwin R. Sweeney documents this instability in his work on Mangas Coloradas, and Matthew Babcock encounters the same issue in Apache Adaptation to Hispanic Rule. Both identify the difficulty of tracking individuals whose names and affiliations shift across military, diplomatic, and administrative records.

Their response is careful and methodical. They attempt to correct the archive. They work to determine which label best fits each figure. They resolve confusion by assigning a more accurate classification.

The Labels Changed. The Kinship Network Continued.

By Ruben Q. Leyva

Many families searching for Apache ancestry reach a stopping point in the records. An ancestor appears as *Indio* in one generation, then as *Mestizo* or with no designation in the next. The paper trail seems to end there. For many, that moment feels like proof that the connection cannot be verified.

It is not the end. It is a shift in the record. The difficulty in tracing Apache ancestry comes from changes in how colonial and national systems classified people, not from a break in family continuity. When parish registers, census lists, and military reports are read together, kinship networks remain visible across these changes.

In late Spanish-period records, priests often identified individuals as *Indio.*  After Mexican independence in 1821, those labels became less consistent or disappeared altogether. Parish registers continued to record baptisms, marriages, and burials, but racial designations shifted to *Mestizo,* *Mulato,* *Coyote* or were omitted. This reflects a change in state practice, not a sudden transformation within families.

What I Got Wrong About My Own Family Before Borders

By Ruben Q. Leyva

The archive remembered a name, and I followed it.

For some time, I wrote publicly that the Apache leader known as El Compá, whom Spaniards referred to as the General of the Apaches at peace, was my fifth great-grandfather. The conclusion made sense based on the records available. His name appeared in the Janos documents. Today, the Janos municipality in Chihuahua, Mexico borders the United States. It was one site where Spanish-run peace establishments for Apache communities were maintained. Some Apaches at peace lived near Janos, and others, like the Compá family, lived there. In 1794, El Compá's household was recorded at the moment of his death. The people attached to that household seemed to align with the lineage I was tracing, including my fifth great-grandmother, Guadalupe Ydalgo, who appears in the records as part of the Compá household.

It was a reasonable reading.

It was also incomplete.

I recently came across a concept called The Curley effect. It has nothing to do with Larry and Moe. After some research I learned that The Curley effect, coined by economists Edward L. Glaeser and Andrei Shleifer, is a real concept in political economy. It describes how politicians use wasteful redistributive policies and divisive rhetoric to drive opposing voters out of a city (or in our case a state), thus securing their electoral base.

Named after former Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, it explains how leaders can maintain power while causing long-term economic stagnation by shaping the electorate to their advantage. Intentionally or unintentionally, it is hard to not think about modern New Mexico politics.

Indeed, it seems to me that the Curley effect has been in effect here in recent years. How so?  

Arizona and New Mexico recently announced that the Mexican wolf population has reached at least 319
animals—meeting the federal recovery benchmark established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
upheld by the courts. By the government's own standard, the biological recovery goal has been achieved. That
is an environmental success worth acknowledging.

But recovery on paper does not tell the whole story.

Decisions in New Mexico Raise Questions About Zorro Ranch, Abortion Oversight and a Pattern of Inaction

(Online version): https://www.abortionfreenm.com/news/decisions-in-new-mexico-raise-questions-about-zorro-ranch-abortion-oversight-and-a-pattern-of-inaction

UNDERCOVER VIDEO REPORT RAISES NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT CROSS-STATE ABORTION NETWORK IN NEW MEXICO

(Online version): https://www.abortionfreenm.com/news/undercover-video-report-raises-new-questions-about-cross-state-abortion-network-in-new-mexico

​Sentinel investigation appears to show New Mexico clinic advising Texas patients — including minors — on traveling to the state for abortions, raising new oversight questions.

By Bud Shaver,

Albuquerque, New Mexico — Abortion Free New Mexico is commending investigative reporting by the New Mexico Sentinel after the outlet published an undercover video report showing how a New Mexico abortion clinic allegedly assists Texas residents — including minors — in circumventing Texas abortion restrictions.

The investigation raises new questions about cross-state abortion access, oversight, and the role New Mexico clinics play in serving patients from states with abortion bans.

• Read the full report by the New Mexico Sentinel: Undercover video shows how New Mexico clinic helps Texans circumvent abortion ban, even for underage pregnant teens

 Late-term Abortionist Susan Robinson Dies, Renewing Focus on New Mexico's Role in U.s. Abortion Industry

(Online Version): https://www.abortionfreenm.com/news/late-term-abortionist-susan-robinson-dies-renewing-focus-on-new-mexicos-role-in-us-abortion-industry

Abortion Free New Mexico says Robinson's connection to Albuquerque highlights the state's emergence as a national destination for abortions later in pregnancy. 

By Bud Shaver,

Albuquerque, New Mexico -- Dr. Susan Robinson, a physician known for performing abortions later in pregnancy and who worked with providers in Albuquerque, has died. Her death is drawing renewed attention to New Mexico's role in the national abortion industry and Albuquerque's connection to one of the country's most widely known facilities offering the procedure.

​Robinson's death was confirmed in a public statement by abortion provider Dr. Shelly Sella, who worked alongside Robinson providing third-trimester abortion services in both Wichita, Kansas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"Dr. Susan Robinson died this morning, less than a year from her cancer diagnosis," Sella wrote in a public post. "Susan was my friend and colleague in third trimester abortion care, both in Wichita and Albuquerque… Together, we helped create a model of abortion care that lives on in our mentees."