Death Mask

Pancho Villa's death mask. One of four replicas. This, the only one without ears. To be a historian and archivist is not for the faint of heart. It is the strangeness of certain collections though that can only be drawn out through the perception of the researcher. Perception. So the question of whether or not it is appropriate to describe Pancho Villa's raid in 1916 as a terrorist attack is clarified by Columbus archivistRichard Dean. "His raid produced terror". He's not wrong. From all accounts, it most certainly did. Some folks in Columbus see this raid from Pancho's side: as courage and confrontation, both of which are re-enacted by cabalgata. Some say Villa's raid was in retaliation for the U.S. recognizing Carranza after stringing Villa (and his dutiful allegiance to Wilson) along for some 4 years. Recognition of a country in revolution was something to which the Wilson administration was allergic. This then means that overtures between Wilson and Villa in letters and meetings with surrogates constituted an unconventional diplomacy. (January 12, 2018)