For more than 300 years, Spanish explorers navigated, charted and settled much of the continent of North America and its waterways. These early colonists left an indelible imprint across the southern United States, their heritage embedded in the histories of our lands, rivers, bays and gulfs. In the summer of 2011, a traveling exhibition examined the centuries-old ties between the two countries—ties dating to the early 16th century, stretching through the charting of the Mississippi and the settlement of the West, and remaining vibrant today.

The Threads of Memory: Spain and the United States (El Hilo de la Memoria: España y los Estados Unidos) marked the U.S. debut of nearly 140 rare documents, maps, illustrations and paintings, many of which have never been displayed outside of Spain. The exhibition opened May 11 at The Historic New Orleans Collection, the final stop on a limited, three-city American tour. The Threads of Memory and was on view through July 10.

The survival of these extraordinary materials, selected from the Archive of the Indies in Seville, is a testament to Spain’s pride in its role in the formation of the United States. The exhibition offers an opportunity to celebrate a common but often overlooked heritage.

The Threads of Memory was divided into 10 sections, each exploring a different aspect of Spanish colonial history, such as early exploration in Florida, the Spanish administration of Louisiana and Spain’s role in the American Revolution.

“While Louisiana is frequently identified with France, the importance of Spain to the development of Louisiana and the Gulf South is more critical than what immediately meets the eye,” said Alfred E. Lemmon, director of the Williams Research Center at THNOC.

“When horrible fires destroyed New Orleans in 1788 and 1794, Spanish officials enacted far more stringent building codes, which protected many of the buildings you see today. They even helped protect the French language by issuing proclamations in French and in Spanish, publishing a French newspaper and encouraging the immigration of French St. Dominguan and Acadian refugees.”

New Orleans was the final city on the exhibition’s American tour. Prior to the display here, The Threads of Memory was on view at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe and the El Paso Museum of History in Texas. Following its Gulf South visit, all materials returned to the Spanish archives.

“New Orleans is a key point in this exhibition, a perfect city for its closure,” said curator Falia González Díaz. “And there could be no better place in New Orleans to present the exhibition than The Collection’s building on Royal Street, which is a Spanish colonial home.”

The exhibition was presented in English and in Spanish, with an accompanying full-color, bilingual catalogue detailing all of the documents on display and featuring essays on Spanish missions in the New World, Louisiana under Spanish rule and Spain’s role in the emergence of the United States. The catalogue is available in The Shop at The Collection for $65.

The Threads of Memory: Spain and the United States
(El Hilo de la Memoria: España y los Estados Unidos)
May 11–July 10, 2011
The Historic New Orleans Collection
533 Royal Street
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Click here for related programming.

Media coverage of The Threads of Memory
Read the Times-Picayune‘s article about the exhibition and view their slideshow of images.
Read the Advocate‘s article about the exhibition.
Listen to director of museum programs John Lawrence’s interview about the exhibition with WWNO ‘s Paul Maassen.
Listen to Williams Research Center Director Alfred E. Lemmon’s interview with WWNO’s Diane Mack.

[Show as slideshow]

Map of the Mississippi River, dedicated to the Duke of Jovenazo by Don Armando de Arce, Baron of Lahontan, 1699; Seville, Archivo General de Indias, MP-Florida y Luisiana, 29

Plan of the city of New Orleans by Carlos Trudeau, surveyor, 1801; Seville, Archivo General de Indias, MP-Florida y Luisiana, 219

Coat of arms of the province of Louisiana, 1786; Seville, Archivo General de Indias, MP-Escudos, 129

Edict given by Pierre-Clément Laussat, Colonial Prefect and French government commissioner, telling the inhabitants of Louisiana about the cession of this province to the United States, 1803; Seville, Archivo General de Indias, Cuba, 188C.

Lateral view of a French ship [Belle], 1684; Seville, Archivo General de Indias, MP-Ingenios y Muestras, 9

Drawing of a buffalo, 1598; Seville, Archivo General de Indias, MP-Estampas, 1; Patronato, 22, R. 13 fols. 1019-1021

Design of the uniform of the forces of the Cavalry garrisoned on the line of the frontier of the nine Internal Provinces of New Spain, [1804], August 26]; Seville, Archivo General de Indias, MP-Uniformes, 81

“Extract of the occurrences at the settlement of the Bay of Espiritu Santo and other places…of 400 families from the Canary Islands…,” [1731]; Seville, Archivo General de Indias, Guadalajara, 178, fols. 549-562.

The Threads of Memory is organized by The Historic New Orleans Collection, Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the Spanish Ministry of Culture with support from the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C. Falia González Díaz of the Archive of the Indies curated the exhibition, which is sponsored by Fundación Rafael del Pino.