Research Guides: Researching Like a Historian: Spring Semester

Exploring Our El Paso History

Dual Credit and Advanced Placement classes will explore El Paso by exploring historical sites, museums, and cultural locations throughout El Paso. Students will break into groups and become "experts" on the locations they visit, Each student is individually responsible for seeking primary sources that give deeper meaning to El Paso's unique history. Students will use the primary source analysis tool with at least two primary sources as historical evidence. During their presentation to the class, students must use the primary source they choose to tell the story of El Paso's history..

Resources:
Primary Source Analysis Tool
Border Heritage Center Digital Collections- El Paso Public Library
US History in Context

El Paso Holocaust Museum

El Paso Holocaust Museum
The mission of El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center is to teach the history of the Holocaust in order to combat prejudice and intolerance through education, community outreach, and cultural activities.

Chamizal Naitonal Memorial Site

Chamizal National Memorial
Chamizal is more than just an urban park to recreate or enjoy a quiet afternoon. These grounds are a reminder of the harmonious settlement of a 100-year boundary dispute between the United States and Mexico. We celebrate the cultures of the borderlands to promote the same mutual respect that helped to diplomatically resolve an international disagreement.

Archaeology Museum

El Paso Musuem of Archaeology
The El Paso Museum of Archaeology presents 14,000 years of prehistory in the El Paso area, the greater Southwest, and northern Mexico.

Border Marker One

International Border Marker One
In the 1870s and 1880s, border disputes broke out when valuable natural resources were discovered near the United States-Mexican border. The International Boundary Commission, which set out in 1891, consisted of two main parties, one from the U.S. and one from Mexico.

El Paso History Musuem

El Paso History Museum
The Museum’s collection contains more than 10,000 artifacts, documents, images, and personal stories that chronicle the city of El Paso- one of largest border metroplexes in the world.

Hueco Tanks State Park and Historical Site

Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site
For over 10,000 years, Hueco Tanks has provided water, food and shelter to travelers in the Chihuahuan Desert. Native tribes have told their stories in the pictographs and petroglyphs found on the rock walls and made Hueco Tanks and seasonal home for hunting and gathering. Western settlers have left their mark at soldiers, ranchers, and passengers on the Butterfield Stage Coach Trail.

Los Portales Museum & Old El Paso County Jail

Los Portales Museum
The building which houses the historical museum was built around 1850 and is known as “Los Portales”. It was once the residence of Capt. Gregorio Nacianceno Garcia, a well-known respectable member of the San Elizario community in the 1835-1898 era.

Magoffin Home

Magoffin Home State Historic Site
Nestled in downtown El Paso, this striking and unique adobe homestead tells the stories of a multicultural family that influenced the development of the Southwest borderlands.

American Dam

Canalization Project
Canalization Project (February 23, 1938 – February 15, 1943). This project was to facilitate the United States Government in complying with the provisions of the Treaty with Mexico concluded May 21, 1906 (Baker 1943). This project also included American Dam and Canal. Preliminary investigations began from Caballo Dam to El Paso, Tx on April 13, 1935, and completed on December 15, 1935.

Presidio Chapel of San Elizaro

Presidio Chapel of San Elizaro
In 1788, the site was the chosen spot to locate a strategic military stronghold on New Spain’s western frontier. Soldiers from San Elzeario (also San Elceario), a decommissioned Spanish fort in Guajoquilla, Mexico (present-day Chihuahua), occupied the new presidio to defend area residents and El Camino Real caravans from Apaches.

Burges House

The Burges House
The Burges House in the Sunset Heights Historic District was built for Richard Fenner Burges by contractor J. E. Morgan. Alterations and additions were made in 1927 under the direction of architect Otto H. Thorman. Facing west, the two-story house carries the Adams Architectural style from the Georgian Revival manner popular in El Paso from 1881 to 1940. The Burges House is an El Paso Historic Landmark, on the National Register of Historic Places, and was designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1993.