Works-in-Progress with Drew Wood

The Helmerich Center for American Research (HCAR) is pleased to announce the 2022-23 series of Works-in-Progress seminars. These seminars nurture a community of local and regional scholars by providing opportunities to share creative activity in an academically constructive environment. Each seminar will focus on pre-circulated drafts, followed by a roundtable conversation. Our second seminar of the year will feature:

Mexican Photographer Joaquín Santamaría’s Historical Vision of the ‘Good Life’ in Veracruz
Drew Wood, Ph.D., Stanley Rutland Professor of History, University of Tulsa
Friday, Oct. 21, 3:30-5 p.m., with refreshments and reception to follow

“Joaquín Santamaría is considered one of the most important photographers in twentieth century Mexico. From his apprenticeship during the Revolutionary years up through the early 1970s, Santamaría consistently “affirmed Veracruz” both in the studio and while on assignment for the port’s daily newspaper El Dictamen.

In viewing selections from the artist’s vast treasury of over 20,000 images, my research first identifies Santamaría’s vision as one that features women and men from nearly all walks of life pictured as part of a developing postrevolutionary civic culture. I then reflect on how the photographer’s images have served as essential primary source material in recent historical scholarship on Veracruz and how often the period when Santamaría was active (from ca.1930 to 1970) is typically cast as a golden age in the city when “the good life” could be enjoyed by nearly all porteños.”

– Drew Wood

To receive an electronic copy of the paper prior to the seminar, please contact Alex Patterson at alex-patterson@utulsa.edu.