Silver City -- Fascination still abounds for the legends and myths surrounding the American West. Early newsprint and dime novels painted elaborate images of outlaws, frontier justice and abundant opportunity for most newcomers. Artists, songwriters and filmmakers continue to mine and cultivate this nostalgia, spurring on adventurers to head "out west."
Award-winning author Johnny D. Boggs will share these myths and legends of the Old West on Saturday, July 15th, as part of the Silver City Museum's community conversation series, presented in collaboration with WILL, the Western Institute of Lifelong Learning. This free event takes place from 11 am to 12:30 pm at the historic Silco Theater, 311 N. Bullard Street in Silver City, and will be moderated by Wendy Spurgeon, the museum's youth and families program manager. For more information, please contact her at (575) 597-5722 or education@silvercitymuseum.org .
Boggs is the author of more than 50 western novels and numerous nonfiction articles, and has received nine Spur Awards from Western Writers of America and a Western Heritage Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
From his website, johnnydboggs.com: "Johnny D. Boggs has worked cattle, been bucked off horses (breaking two ribs last time), shot rapids in a canoe, hiked across mountains and deserts, traipsed around ghost towns, and spent hours in library archives, all to find a good story. He has won a record nine Spur Awards from Western Writers of America, a Western Heritage Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and has been called by Booklist magazine "among the best western writers at work today."
Boggs also writes for numerous magazines, including True West, Wild West, Boys' Life and Western Art & Architecture. A native of South Carolina and former newspaper
journalist, he lives in Santa Fe with his wife and son.
The Silver City Museum creates opportunities for residents and visitors to explore, understand, and celebrate
the rich and diverse cultural heritage of southwestern New Mexico by collecting, preserving, researching, and interpreting the region's unique history. The museum is nationally recognized through its accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums.
Admission is free, though a suggested donation of $5 helps support the museum's education programs, collections care and exhibitions. For more information, please call (575) 589-0221 or email admin@silvercitymuseum.org, or visit the museum's website at silvercitymuseum.org. To donate or to learn of volunteer opportunities, please visit silvercitymuseumsociety.org.