Museum of American People: Asturian history & culture?

[Maestro Tomberi]

That's indeed a colossal work, Manny! The way Asturian people lived and evoluted throughout overseas history from the arrival and settlement of admiral Menéndez up to nowadays. This is most definitely interesting!

And Art, I think too you should take part of it as well.

[Manuell Alvarez]

Maestro Tomberi, thank you for your posting. It is always a pleasure to hear from you, and we value your input.

Yes, it is a very daunting task starting from zero. Admittedly, I do not have the personality, skills, and talents to make it work. Further, most of the records and documents are probably in the Spanish Archives in Spain, and are written in early Spanish. Having a volunteer translator would help immensely toward what is of display and exhibit importance. Hopefully, there are small contributions that I can make toward the ultimate goal of the Asturians being represented in the purposed museum should it come to fruition.

There are others within the Forum who have all the necessary attributes to make it successful.

Tu amigo, Manny

[Manuell Alvarez]

According to an article on the internet entitled: "Iberian Names in North America: the case of Asturian", the City of St. Augustine in 1565 is known to have had an explicity Asturian original population. Further, it states that in 1572, Admiral Menendez requested an additional 50 Asturian families. Please note that it said Asturian families and families denotes men, women, and children immigrants.

This is exciting information that all or most of the inhabitants in 1565 were Asturian.


Manny

[Manuell Alvarez]

in order to be successful in our endeavors of our Asturian contributions to this country being represented in the purposed Museum of American People will require everyone's input and help.

Your heritage and the contributions made by the Asturian peoples should not be forgotten or glossed over.

Please let us know if you can help in any way. Asturias, para siempre!

Manny

[Manuell Alvarez]

Yesterday, I found that the Catholic Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, have the Church records dating from 1594. The records from 1565 to 1594, are thought to have been burned during one of the attacks on St. Augustine by other countries when even the Churches were destroyed.

I have sent an email to the Vatican asking if there are any records of the early St. augustine Church in their archives. I had hoped to find a copy of the 1566 birth certificate of the first European child born in the continental United States, Martin de Arguelles to Asturian parents.

The St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library has the English translations of the earliest Church records in the nation dating from 1594. I have not contacted them for a cost estimate for purchasing the copies of those documents. Further, they state in their literature that they also maintain copies of Spanish Colonial documents from the years of 1513 to 1821.

Of great interest are the Admiral Menendez's maps of St. Augustine and Florida. Certainly, copies of his ship log books and personal letters are extremely valuable and of great interest, as well as, the business papers of commerce.

Does anyone on the Forum know if the 1565 Flag of Asturias was the same then as the one today with the golden cross on a field of sky blue?

Manny

[Manuell Alvarez]

Built in 1702, the Gonzalez-Alvarez house appears to be the oldest surviving house in St. Augustine. Currently, it is a museum. The museum has many historical artifacts from the old city history. It is known as the Oldest House National Landmark. It is built of Coquina stone. I am interested in knowing if the Gonzalez-Alvarez families were of Asturian heritage.

I have not yet found in my internet research, if this one remaining example of a Spanish dwelling is typical of the building construction of the early 1565 to 1700 period of Asturian occupation. I suspect that many of the very early dwellings were probably wooden structures. Oak trees are found in areas of central Florida and may have been in plentiful supply during the early years of occupation as construction materials. Today, those Oak trees are protected from being cut down.

Manny

[Manuell Alvarez]

The inserted information describes the purpose/mission of the museum:

Manny


PERMANENT EXHIBITION

The Story of the Making of the American People

The Museum’s permanent exhibition would tell the story of the making of the American People from the first humans in the Western Hemisphere up to the present. This exhibition and this story would be at the core of the Museum.

Encompassing a timeline of more than 15 millennia, the story of the American People could be presented in a dramatic, interactive documentary format like the presentation of the permanent exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Following the example of that museum, a premier museum exhibition designer could be teamed with a visionary documentary film maker to create a permanent exhibition that is accessible, attractive, exciting and engaging at many levels.

The story could be told in four chapters and would be developed and vetted by teams of scholars, including historians, anthropologists, archeologists, ethnologists, human geographers, sociologists, demographers, geneticists, linguists, and others.

The story would follow a consensus of their views, and significant mainstream historic and scientific dissenting views could also be included. As scientific and historic consensus changes, appropriate changes could be made in the Museum. The Museum would tell the story ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. With force and clarity, it would examine unpleasant truths and avoid mythology.

The Museum would present the story in the exhibition using a variety of media, especially artifacts, and including film, visuals, dioramas, graphics, text, computer technology and models, in a framework that would encourage reflection as visitors absorbed the story. With advice from educators, text and visuals in the exhibition would be geared for school children as well as adults. Once the Museum is established, a significant national effort would be made to develop the Museum’s final story line. The Museum’s board would approve the final story line and exhibition. The Commission could also explore development of a major multi-part documentary film based on the Museum’s story line. The film could be broadcast by a national network and could be made available for classroom showings throughout the nation.

The Museum’s permanent exhibition could leave an indelible impression of knowledge and understanding on visitors as they engage and come to know the full story of the making of the American People.

[Art]

The Gonzalez-Alvarez house doesn't look like typical homes I've seen in Asturias, but the weather and local building materials are very different, so it makes sense that the construction would be different, too. There are a few photos here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonz%C3%A1 ... arez_House

[Edit: Second opinion below!]

[Manuell Alvarez]

Art,

Thanks for placing the pictures and story of the house on the Forum. It adds quite a lot of history and explanation to the posting.

I am wondering if the second story was added much later and the home thus
lost its Asturian characteristics through modern building construction?

According to the internet, we owe quite a lot of praise to a man named Albert Manucy, for the preservation of this home. Albert Manucy was born in St. Augustine in 1910. He witnessed the destruction of many of the old homes during his residency there. He studied Spanish Architecture in Spain on a Fulbright Scholarship and worked toward preservation of Spanish St. Augustine while working with the National Park Service. He wrote a book entitled, Sixteenth Century St. Augustine: The People and their Homes. utilizing the original Asturian documents. Of his many awards, he received the Amigos de Los Castillos silver medal from the government of Spain for his contributions to the preservation of St. Augustine.

According to the article, he discovered from the Asturian documents that from 1566 to 1572, that the City of St. Augustine was actually situated on Anastasia Island, across the Matanzas Bay from its current location. Never the less, it is still remains the only Asturian founded city in the continental United States and the oldest continuously occupied city of European ancestry.

Manny

(P.S.---The Asturians belong in the Museum of the American People).

[Manuell Alvarez]

In April of 1977, we traveled to Florida primarily to take Alejandro to Walt Disney World. We had the visit and tour of St. Augustine on our agenda.

During our next to last day in Florida, we spent one hour at Cocoa Beach. It was sunny and seventy degrees with a light breeze and mist coming from the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, our time at the beach was ruined by the worst sunburn. Even the tops of our feet were burned. Thankfully, we did not spend more than an hour out there, but it was bad enough. We did not know how seriously we were burned until after taking our showers.

The next day we had planned to stay overnight at St. Augustine and tour the City before leaving for home. Unfortunately, we were in too much pain and were coated with sunburn cream. Looking back, I probably should have checked all three of us into a hospital emergency room. I had to wear my bedroom slippers while driving due to the pain. What a miserable experience!

We did tour St. Augustine from our car for about half an hour, and after ordering takeout at McDonalds, we headed north toward home leaving behind my only opportunity to see and visit the Asturian founded City of St. Augustine.

In 1981, we again visited Florida again only this time we did not get a chance to tour St. Augustine. Perhaps, I have a few more years left to once again make the trip to Florida and tour this historical city founded by the Asturians. Unfortunately, I am one of those cautionary people who believe that if God meant people to fly, he would have given them wings so I will have to make the long trip in my truck.

Confessions of an Asturian descendant,

Manny

[Manuell Alvarez]

In my quest to have our Asturian heritage and history in St. Augustine exhibited in the proposed American People Museum, I have not accomplished research to document any early Asturian involvement in the early Spanish settlements and cities located and established in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California, and along the Old Spanish Trade Trails through these states.

Of these states, recent internet information indicates that New Mexico and California have significant populations of Asturians. My oldest brother, his son, and daughter have homes in California.

Hopefully, there are those on the Forum who know about the Asturian contributions to our history in those western states as we would like to have that information collected. Frankly, I am very ignorant concerning those locations and we do not want to overlook any of our contributions to the history of this country.

Manny

[Art]

On second thought, there are some similarities between the home in St. Augustine and Asturian houses.

The characteristics that are similar include the arched openings, porch on the second story, stone construction (in St. Augustine on the lower story), and the masonry wall.

Of course, these would also match the homes of many non-Asturian places and are not found on every old Asturian home. Thus, none of these characteristics prove that this home is modeled on similar homes in Asturias.

This page of image on Google show some similar homes:
www.google.com/search?q=asturiana+casa&tbm=isch
or these homes associated with Avilés:
search google images for: asturiana casa Avilés
Note: The link below will not work unless you copy and past it.
www.google.com/search?q=asturiana+casa+Avilés&tbm=isch

Of course, many of the homes shown on those pages are modern.

But there are other factors suggesting that these might not be Asturian features. The home was built in 1701, which is long after the original 1650 settlement. A historical marker (also on the Wikipedia page), states:

Gonzalez-Alvarez House (the oldest house)
For more than three centuries this site has been occupied by St. Augustinians. Beginning about 1650, a succession of thatched wooden structures were their homes. This coquina stone house was built soon after the English burned St. Augustine in 1702, and originally was a one-story rectangle with two rooms. As times changed during the Spanish, British, and American occupations, a wooden second story, an off-street porch, and other features were added. Preserved by the St. Augustine Historical Society since 1918, the house became a registered national landmark in 1970.

"Coquina" refers to "a soft limestone of broken shells, used in road-making in the Caribbean and Florida." If I remember correctly, it was also a common building material in St. Augustine.

We can see from that that marker that most of the features I mentioned probably came later and may have been inspired by other cultural heritages and experiences.

[Manuell Alvarez]

Art,

Thanks for the clarification. Particularly, the reference to the date of construction which came after the Asturian occupation of St. Augustine. I would hope that at least the Gonzalezes or Alvarezes are of Asturian heritage.

Manny

[Manuell Alvarez]

Here are some of Asturian family names recorded among the sailors and settlers of 1565 St. Augustine: Arango, Arguelles, Hevia, Miranada, Quiros, Solis, and Valdes. These were found on the internet and have not been confirmed as Asturian names from the original Church records and government documents.

Manny