El Pueblo History Museum, of History Colorado, worked closely with the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C., to bring pages of the original document for display for the first time in Colorado. The Treaty is the most significant artifact in the museum’s newest exhibit, Borderlands of Southern Colorado, which opened to great fanfare earlier this month, including with a community celebration attended by over one thousand southern Colorado residents.

“We are very grateful for the contributions of these two southern Colorado-based councils of El Pomar Foundation,” said Dawn DiPrince, Director of El Pueblo History Museum. “It is special that so many leaders from our community contributed to making this happen.”

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo significantly transformed the lives of families in southern Colorado. The 1848 treaty transferred all or parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and Colorado, from Mexico to the United States – more than 525,000 square miles of territory. While the treaty moved the political border between the United States and Mexico from the Arkansas River to the Rio Grande, it did not alter the linguistic, ethnic, and geological borders that were already taking shape. The treaty has never before been on display in Colorado

The bilingual exhibit focuses on southern Colorado’s geopolitical border history, as well as the region’s historic and ongoing borders of cultures, ethnicities, landscapes, industries, religions and identities. Visitors will experience an interactive map that showcases shifting zones of control; the original Colorado Constitution printed in Spanish and German; adobe-building station; ancestor map, where visitors can connect their roots to Pueblo; beet-topping tool from the Bracero Program; and a 1940s interactive kitchen that showcases ethnic food traditions, including the Pueblo Chile.

Part of the contribution of the San Luis Valley Regional Partnerships Council is also supporting a San Luis Valley Day at El Pueblo History Museum to honor and celebrate the unique Borderlands history of the Valley on Sunday, June 24, 2018. The day will include a special tour of the exhibit, talks on Valley history, entertainment from Los Cancioneros del Valle, and free transportation from Alamosa and Fort Garland to Pueblo. The free event is open to the public and current and former San Luis Valley residents are specifically invited.

El Pueblo History Museum, located at 301 N. Union Avenue in historic downtown Pueblo, marks the site of the international border between Mexico and the United States prior the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It is open daily, 10 am to 4 pm. Admission to the museum is $5 for adults; and $4 for students, seniors (65+) and children (up to 18); and free for children under 6. Borderlands of Southern Colorado is included with museum admission.

El Pueblo History Museum showcases the city's history and the region's many cultural and ethnic groups. The property includes a re-created 1840s adobe trading post and plaza, and the archeological excavation site of the original 1842 El Pueblo trading post. El Pueblo History Museum is a Community Museum of History Colorado. For more information, visit www.ElPuebloHistoryMuseum.org.