On Saturday, the Humboldt Museum will officially open a permanent Basque Exhibit celebrating the Basque heritage that has been a prominent cultural community influence in Nevada for well over 100 years.
The Basque Exhibit is a local collaborative effort between North Central Nevada Historical Society, Euskaldunak Danak Bat, artists Teddy Swecker and Kitty Norcutt, and craftsmen Jim Cisna, John Iroz and Martin Iroz.
The exhibit features wood and bricks from the historic Winnemucca Hotel and a painting features local basque dancers.
There will be an opening celebration for the exhibit this Saturday, February 22 from 2-4 p.m. free to attend where traditional Basque chorizos and red wine will be served at the Humboldt Museum. Mercedes Mendive will also be playing live Basque accordion music at the event.
The basque homeland is a region barely 100 miles wide spanning forest and granite crests of the Pyrenees mountain zone between France and Spain and is fringed to the north by the rugged coastline of the Bay of Biscay, according to ‘The Roots of Basque Character and the First Diaspora to the United States’ by Clare O’Toole, provided in excerpts in the Basque Exhibit program for the Humboldt Museum.
Basque Country, known as Euskal Herria is comprised of seven provinces, four Spanish and three French.
The Basque culture is known for a sheep herding instinct and the crafts and practices that accompanied it, with a unique language.
The Basque culture migration into Nevada and California happened largely due to the gold rush and the opportunities available during that time. Excerpts from O’toole’s paper said that young Basque immigrants originally migrated to work in the mines and later found a better life could be had through raising sheep and selling mat to the mines, taking employment on establish ranches and saving their money to put into their own sheep business or establish their own herd.
An annual Basque Festival is held each June in Winnemucca to celebrate Basque heritage and culture complete with dancing, wine, events and chorizos.
The exhibit was made possible by a grant from Nevada Humanities, an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for Humanities.
Special thanks were given to several individual and organizations for their contributions to the project including Teddy Swecker, Kitty Norcutt, Norm Sweeney, Jim Cisna, John and Martin Iroz, Paige Brooks, Mike Errea, Ann Darlene Jones, Euskaldunak Danak Bat, William Bieg, Cindy Whitaker, Terry Norcutt, Rick Norcutt, Todd Goodale and Beau Larson, Carol O’Toole, Meggan Laxalt Mackey, Nevada Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities.
More information about the exhibit and museum programs can be obtained by calling 775-623-2912.
