Virginia Sanchez
Virginia Sánchez is an award winning author who enjoys researching and writing about the history of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. She has presented her research at conferences of the Western History Association, Historical Society of New Mexico, and American Society for Ethnohistory. She is a member of historical and genealogical societies in New Mexico and Colorado and contributes to their journals. Her latest book, Pleas and Petitions: Hispano Life and Conflict in Territorial Colorado, discusses how New Mexico lost its northernmost area to Colorado in 1861 and provides a historic framing of the ruptures that took place for the displaced Hispano people (Univ. of CO Press 2020). She is currently writing about the history of La Cebolla Valley in Mora County, NM. and hopes to have one village recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2023 she received a Fellowship from the Hulbert Center for Southwest Studies at Colorado College, and a research grant from the Historical Society of New Mexico. In 2024 she received the Author of the Year award from the Culture and Heritage Center of Las Vegas, NM. Her chapter, “Survival of Captivity: Hybrid Identities, Gender, and Culture in Territorial Colorado,” in the book, Nación Genízara (Univ. of NM Press 2019) discusses indigenous identity in southern Colorado. The book received the 2020 Heritage Publication Award from the NM State Historic Preservation Office. Her research about southern Colorado history (1861-1876) appears in several scholarly articles published in the New Mexico Historical Review. One co-authored article received the 2018 award for Best Article in the New Mexico Historical Review. Her first book, Forgotten Cuchareños of the Lower Valley, received the 2011 Miles History Award from the Colorado Historical Society.
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