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• ix The late Calvin Horn, eminent Southwestern historian and publisher, was kind enough to provide me with a pristine copy of his 1965 reprint of the Ayer translation of Fray Alonso de Benavides’s Memorial as I began my work. It contains a very useful and clear photofacsimile of the Newberry Library/Ayer copy of the original Spanish edition of 1630, as well as copious notes. I appreciated his help and his friendship. The staff of the Zimmerman Library at the University of New Mexico also obtained for me a microfilm copy of the 1630 edition of the Memorial from the University of Kentucky Library. This I used for page-by-page and word-by-word comparisons. I am grateful to both libraries for their assistance. Professor Emeritus John Kessell of the University of New Mexico discussed aspects of Mother María de Agreda’s mystical appearances with me at length. He also provided a manuscript copy of his recent study of this extraordinary nun, author of The Mystical City of God, an “autobiography” of the Virgin Mary. I would like to offer him my gratitude and appreciation. My friend, Professor V. B. Price, provided much good advice and encouragement as this translation took shape. Many thanks, Barrett. I would also like to thank my friends Jeff Romero, Fred and Susan Roach, Laura Sowers, and Craig Sowers for their interest and support. My secretary, Rosine McConnell, was exceptionally creative and helpful in transcribing a complex manuscript. I deeply appreciate her Acknowledgments x • Acknowledgments dedication and hard work. Susan Lowell, a former member of my staff, drafted a very useful map for the book from my sketches, and I will remember kindly her precision and care. I also am grateful to Ms. Amy Bell, ASLA, for her help with images for the book. I would like to thank Luther Wilson, former director of the University Press of Colorado, for believing in the hardback version of this book from the start. Jody Berman, managing editor of the University Press of Colorado, was also most helpful and encouraging. I am grateful to John Byram, director of the University of New Mexico Press, and to Maya Allen-Gallegos, production manager, for making possible this new paperback version of Fray Alonso’s classic. The National Park Service at Salinas National Monument was very accommodating in allowing photographs and study at odd hours of the day. I am grateful in particular to Superintendent Glenn Fulfer, Jim Boll, and Juan Gonzales. Every translator stands on the shoulders of his or her predecessors , and the thoroughness, dedication, and persevering scholarship of Mrs. Edward E. Ayer and Father Peter P. Forrestal and their colleagues will always be remembered and admired whenever the long and distinguished history of this book is recounted. My wife, JoAnn, and daughter, Susan, were both most gracious and dedicated in agreeing to travel around the region with me in Fray Alonso’s footsteps. They allowed me the time and solitude I needed to complete this modern translation of one of the most singular and compelling early works in Southwestern literature. Baker H. Morrow Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2012 ...

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