Reminiscences of Mexico: A Conversation with Richard Greenleaf

Dr. Richard Greenleaf has been one of the most influential historians of colonial Latin America in general, and of the Inquisition in particular. He received his university and graduate education in his home state at the University of New Mexico. His professional career took him to Mexico City during the exciting period of the 1950s and 1960s. From there he went on to be one of the guiding forces in the consolidation of the Latin American Studies program at Tulane University. This interview was conducted in the summer of 2007 at Dr. Greenleaf’s residence in Albuquerque.

Tell me about your childhood, your youth, and what led you to an interest in Latin America

Living in this area stimulated my interest in Latin America. My father was an engineer. My father was going to work on the Suez Canal when the Second World War started, but that project was cancelled. When I was a child, we traveled from Canada to Brazil building power plants. He worked for Cities Service Petroleum Company and also worked for the Anaconda Copper Company. I went to grade school, learned about Indians, climbed mesas, and got interested in Indian lore of all kinds. As I grew, I then saw how all that related to New Mexico. For instance, when I was about five or six, I remember going to Acoma. They were shooting the silent movie, Redskin [1929]. These experiences were essential to the creation of my interest in Latin America. Although we followed my father on assignments, we always came back to Albuquerque and the Rio Grande when he was off of his jobs. My family decided that I would come to UNM [the University of New Mexico] after I finished high school. I stayed at UNM for 1947 until 1964, earning three degrees. My university years included many summer visits to Latin America. I learned Spanish. Here in New Mexico, we had what we called a ranch, but it was really a farm, along the Rio Grande. I did a lot of hiking. There’s some symmetry to my life: as a kid, I climbed the volcanoes; now I live on Los Volcanes Avenue. I did a lot of hunting in those days, with both guns and bows.

When you were an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico what did you study, and how did you get interested in history?

I started my undergraduate career in Latin American Studies but got a degree in Government. The combination of political science, history, and languages mixed together for me, making a felicitous combination. I participated in the “gentlemen’s sports:” golf, hiking, a little bit of mountain climbing. I didn’t follow my father. My father was a great Lobo [the UNM mascot]. He played five sports. The UNM football team recently gave me an autographed football in recognition of his achievements. He got five letters, which was the most you could get in those days. All the way through university I studied mostly with France V. Scholes. Particularly at the undergraduate level, I also studied with Miguel Jorín, who was a famous Latin Americanist at UNM in those days. As I noted, my undergraduate degree was in Government; my Masters was in Inter-American Affairs; and the Ph.D. was in History, with minor fields in International Law, Spanish, and Politics. So, I was equipping myself for many job possibilities. I first taught here at the University of Albuquerque.¹ It was located not too far from where I currently live. I taught for four years, on and off, while I was a graduate student. I also taught at Kirtland Air Force Base and at Los Alamos.

I did all kinds of teaching at the University of Albuquerque. I taught Renaissance and Reformation. Imagine me in a Reformation course! I taught a course on epistemology. I had hopes that this experience would make me a really good academic, although when I was an Academic Vice President they said that I was a mouse in training to be a rat. I began teaching at Kirtland Air Force Base as...