Interviews with R. Carlos Nakai, 1988-1990

Series I houses raw footage, interviews, scripts, correspondence, licensing information, and other materials documenting the development and production of Youth at Risk: Closing L.A.'s Juvenile Camps. This film explores the value of the camp system through the lives of 18-year-old inmates Angie Burdick, Amber Mercer, Maria Martinez, and Tyneshia Minor, all of whom were incarcerated at Camp Resnick for a variety of offenses, including gang activity. In the camps, they are forced to coexist with members of opposing gangs and re-evaluate the lifestyle they lived and values they held prior to their incarceration. The film also covers the girls’ lives and the challenges they face after they are released and return to their homes. Although these camps were the only arm of Los Angeles County’s juvenile justice system to provide an opportunity for rehabilitation and the County’s Board of Supervisors unanimously supported them, they were threatened with closure at the end of 1993 due to budget cuts.

Series II houses interviews, promotional literature, publications, and other materials documenting the development and production of America's War on Poverty. This film explores the extent of poverty in the United States during the 1960s and discusses federal anti-poverty programs created during the Johnson administration. These programs were designed to promote education, job training, and community action and to provide basic healthcare. This film consists of five parts: In this Affluent Society, Given a Chance, City of Promise, In Service to America, and My Brother's Keeper. Martinez worked primarily on In Service to America.

Series III houses scripts, audio recordings, and other materials documenting the development and production of Rebels with a Cause. This film is sometimes referenced under its working titles, The Young Magicians and Beyond Compassion. It documents the Los Angeles Conservation Corps’ Human Services Project, which employed 20 young adults full-time to research, build, and implement human services projects designed to address issues critical to their communities. The film features three Conservation Corps members: Veronica Ben Como who, after a miscarriage at age 19, leads a crew educating teenagers about contraception and safe sex; Antoinette James, who grew up in a rock house, was homeless at age 17, and leads an AIDS crew visiting adults and children at hospices; and Maria Elena Chavez, neice of Cesar Chavez, who leads a media crew producing rap reports.

Series IV houses affidavits, statements, literature created by activist groups, trial transcripts, research, recordings, publications, and other materials documenting the development and production of Sanctuary on Trial. This film explores the Sanctuary Movement, which was formed by concerned citizens dedicated to helping refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua to avoid capture by the U.S. government and apply for asylum in the United States. It focuses on a trial held in Tucson, Arizona in 1985, in which 11 sanctuary workers were indicted for aiding illegal immigration. Sister Darlene Nicgorski, Rev. John M. Fife, Maria del Socorro Pardo de Aguilar, Father Anthony Clark, Philip Willis-Conger, Wendy LeWin, Peggy Hutchison, and Father Ramon Dagoberto Quinones were found guilty and sentenced to probation.

Series V consists primarily of raw footage used to develop and produce Words of Our Ancients and Hopi Stories. Hopi Stories is a sample video designed to promote Words of Our Ancients. Words of Our Ancients uses interviews, photographs, motion-picture clips, diaries, periodicals, and U.S. government reports to chronicle Hopi history during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Hopi resistance to missionaries determined to eliminate traditional beliefs and practices, resistance to U.S. military campaigns designed to subdue Indigenous peoples, establishment of the Hopi Reservation in 1882, inundation with tourists, creation of Indian Boarding Schools and forced assimilation, rejection of the land allotment program, and finally the 1906 Oraibi Split and its aftermath.

Series VI houses research notes, publications, correspondence, contact lists, financial information, narration, DVD artwork and finishing information, and other materials documenting the development and production of Les Chevaliers du Tastevin: Past, Present, and Future. This film chronicles the order’s history from its origins in France to approximately 2001. Camille Rodier and George Faively founded the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin in 1934 in response to the worldwide economic depression impeding sales of Burgundian wines. The founders posited that rather than lament the fact that our cellars are full, we should invite our friends to help us drink from them and so encourage the sale and consumption of their wines. Franco-Swiss gourmet Jules Bohy brought the Chevaliers to the United States in 1939 and they spread quickly after the end of World War II. A section titled Slopes of Gold discusses the technical aspects of wine production in Burgundy. Additional sequences provide a sense of the total number of chapters worldwide and specifically the New York City chapter, a discussion of the Clos Vougeot and its importance, and a discussion of the Educational Scholarship Fund and the U.S.-Burgundy wine study program.

Series VII houses publications, clippings, scripts, and other materials documenting the development and production of El Senador, which follows the career of New Mexico politician Dionisio Dennis Chavez (1888-1962). Chavez moved to Washington with Senator Andrieus A. Jones in 1917 and worked as a clerk in the office of the Secretary of the United States Senate until 1920, when he graduated from Georgetown University’s law department and was admitted to the bar. After graduation he returned to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he commenced practice and served in the State House of Representatives in 1923-1924. Chavez was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1931 and served until 1934, when he did not seek renomination in order to run for the Senate. He was unsuccessful in 1935 but became the first Hispanic Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in 1936 after being appointed to the seat vacated by Bronson M. Cutting’s death the previous year. Chavez continued to serve until his death in 1962. During his tenure in the Senate, he supported the New Deal, strengthened New Mexico’s ties to the federal government, secured federal funds to finance projects and create jobs in New Mexico, spoke out in favor of women’s suffrage, and worked to remediate discrimination in hiring practices.

Series VIII houses interviews, proposals, artwork, and publications documenting the development of En Medea Res. This film explores the culture, philosophy, and creative expression of R. Carlos Nakai, a Navajo-Ute flutist and composer. It explores Nakai’s perception of his culture from modern to mythological times using Nakai’s compsitions as a soundtrack, live cinematography of the Four Corners area, interviews with Nakai and others, archival film clips, and photography of the region and people. This production may also have included a one-hour extended music video of Nakai’s work. It is unknown whether either film was ever produced.

Series IX houses transcriptions of interviews intended for use in developing Eyes on the Prize, a film documenting the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. This film was not produced under this title and these interviews may have been repurposed as research for America’s War on Poverty.

Series X includes research, correspondence, financial information, notes, publications, and other materials documenting the creation of an untitled production regarding the Rio Grande. This film was sponsored by the Rio Grande Institute and Americas River Communities (ARC) and was intended to explore the Rio Grande as both a river and as a border. This documentary was scheduled to air on PBS in late 2001 or early 2002. It is not clear whether the project was completed.

Series XI houses recordings, notes, correspondence, and other materials documenting films other than those documented in Series I through Series X. These films include a production regarding California’s Proposition 13 (which limited the taxes that could be assessed on real property), a production regarding National Parks in the United States, and numerous unidentified productions.

Series XII: Other Papers includes correspondence, drawings, signs, research, and other materials documenting Martinez’ personal life, education, and family history. Families represented in the genealogical research include the Palmer family, the Woodruff family, and the Rivera family.