An Interview with Dr. Frances Levine

Crossings and Connections on the Santa Fe Trail

An Interview with Dr. Frances Levine by Kate Nelson

ABOUT THE EVENT

Stretching more than 900 miles from St. Louis to Santa Fe, then south to markets in Mexico, the Santa Fe Trail has great importance in the history of the American West. The connections between the two communities were forged by economic necessity, and sustained by families and businesses. Frances Levine is an expert guide to the stories of women, men and the enterprises that created the history and the allure of the Santa Fe Trail.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER

October 22 | 4-6pm
School for Advanced Research
660 Garcia St, Santa Fe, NM 87505

Frances Levine has had a distinguished career as a museum executive leader at both ends of the Santa Fe Trail. She was the Director of the Palace of the Governors/ New Mexico History Museum from 2002 until she moved to St. Louis in 2014.  Dr. Levine was the President and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society and Missouri History Museum from spring 2014 until summer 2022.  She now works as an author and museum consultant.

A native of Connecticut, Frances received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

Dr. Levine is the author, co-editor or contributor to several award-winning books. Crossings will receive the 2025 Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá award from the New Mexico Historical Society recognizing it as an outstanding contribution to the history of the American Southwest and Borderlands. 

Kansas native Kate Nelson attended a grade school built right next to the Santa Fe Trail. Her teachers said you could still see the wagon ruts, but even at a young age, she could divine the distance between legend and fact. That skill suited her well in a journalism career initially focused on politics, community, and justice; more recently on history, art, and culture. When Frances Levine hired her as the New Mexico History Museum’s marketing director, neither could predict they would become fast friends and occasional writing partners. Most recently, they collaborated on a time-traveling feature story for New Mexico Magazine that visited women past and present along the trail. (You can read it here: Uncovering Women's Stories on the Santa Fe Trail)

Kate recently retired as managing editor of New Mexico Magazine, a post she held earlier at The Albuquerque Tribune. She was also the longtime host of KNME’s In Focus and wrote the artist biography Helen Hardin: A Straight Line Curved. She lives at the end of a dirt road in Placitas, where she enjoys hiking, gardening, and staring at birds she still can’t positively ID.