Brief by Central Staff
History – April 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
If you’re looking for an historical excuse to go to a warm place during Mud Season, you might consider the seventh annual Anza World Conference, which will be held May 2-5 in Arizpe, Sonora, Mexico.
The conference brings together scholars and others with an interest in the life and career of Juan Bautista de Anza, the 18th-century Spanish frontier officer who founded San Francisco, Calif., in 1776, and in 1779 provided the first written record of Poncha Pass and Central Colorado.
It usually alternates between Mexico and the United States; last year’s world conference was held in Pueblo, and the San Luis Valley hosted it in 1999.
This year, conference attendees from the United States will gather in Tuscon, Ariz., and will travel by van to Arizpe on May 2. Along the way, they will visit Anza’s presidio at Tubac, Ariz.; his mother’s grave at Guevavi, Ariz.; and the ruins of Cocòsperia Mission in Sonora.
On May 3, historians will present their new findings about Anza and his times, and there will be field trips to historic and scenic sites.
Registration deadline is April 1, and the cost is $350 per person. This includes all food and lodging, which will be provided by host families. In Anza’s day, Arizpe was the capital of the immense Provincias Internas, but today it is a small town with limited accommodations.
For more information, contact Don Garate at 520-398-2341, extension 25; David Smith at 510-817-1323; email gabby_cook@nps.gov; postal Tumacàcori National Historical Park, P.O. Box 67, Tumacàcori AZ 85650; or www.nps.gov/tuma/pphtml/newseventsdetail3227.html