"The pilot study has helped lay the foundation for future Brackish Resources Aquifer Characterization System projects by developing a database management system in which variety of data can be stored and processed."

Pedro "Pete" Mendez was born in South Texas and arrived in the Texas Panhandle through migrant labor with his parents in the 1930s. His father died in Clarendon, TX and he was raised between Amarillo and Tucumcari, NM. He joined the Marines during WWII and served in Northern China. Upon returning, he began a small construction business and helped start the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He spoke on the opportunities he and other minority business owners had through government grants and contracts. Jessie Mendez grew up in Amarillo. She recounts segregated schools and business in Amarillo during her childhood. She especially recounts her mother helping end segregation for Mexican Americans in one theater. Jessie talked about not being able to gain a job as a secretary because of her Mexican ethnicity, and thus giving up in the prospect of being employed and settling for marriage. She also recounts pushing her husband to work for civil rights, but she herself followed tradition and stayed home to raise her children.

This poster discusses frontiers in digital newspapers. Since early 2011, the University of New Mexico and the University of North Texas have been engaged in a historical newspaper digitization project. The endeavor is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP): a long-term project coordinated by the Library of Congress with the goal of digitizing 100,000 pages of historical newspapers from each of the 50 states and publishing them to the Web at Chronicling America.