Following the Manito Trail

“Following the Manito Trail: Los Nuevomexicanos en Guayomin (Wyoming)” is an interdisciplinary research endeavor that engages with the migration experience of Nuevomexicano people or New Mexicans from the mid-1800’s to the present. This research explores the Manito Diaspora as it documents Hispanic New Mexican or ‘Manito’ migration from New Mexico to the state of Wyoming. It also examines the driving factors for Manito migration and the exploration of notions of querencia, or how one establishes a sense of self and community through place. Trisha Martinez is a Wyoming native and New Mexico land grant heir with a personal connection to the topic since her family migrated from Valdez, New Mexico to Wyoming to work as sheepherders in the late 1930s. This is a common history and experience among many families from Northern New Mexico. For the past couple years, she has worked as a part of a project research team has conducted interviews and collected oral histories from Manitos in Wyoming. The team has gathered other related materials, such as: family photos, death certificates, family heirlooms, marriage certificates, and traditional food recipes. Our research thus far has been featured as part of La Canoa Legacy Series, and has culminated into a central project featured in the Latinos in Wyoming Exhibit at the American Heritage Center in Laramie, Wyoming. This research is significant because it documents experiences of Nuevomexicano migration and the influence of New Mexican culture and community in spaces outside of the homeland, specifically within the state of Wyoming