On Saturday, April 18, 2026, the Genealogy Center at the Albuquerque Main Library (Downtown) will host the presentation “Genizaros: Indian Captivity in Spanish, Mexican and Early Territorial New Mexico.” From 10:30 am to noon, researcher, author, and former New Mexico State Historian, Robert J. Torrez, will review the Spanish policy of the rescate, officially sanctioned trade opportunities that enabled and encouraged the purchase or ransom of Indian captives and their incorporation into Hispanic society. Subsequent generations of these Indian captives became known as genizaros, Hispanicized Christian Indians that established their own communities and served as stalwart defenders of an embattled New Mexico frontier. Torrez will discuss what the documents in our archival collections tell us about the lives and treatment of the genizaro, as well as how they were treated after the U.S. occupation of New Mexico in 1846. The Genealogy Center is located on the 2nd floor of the Albuquerque Main Library at 501 Copper Ave NW, Albuquerque, NM. There is parking available in the multi-level parking garage on the SE corner of 5th and Copper. Your parking receipt will be validated for two hours of free parking. For more information call (505) 768-5131 or email librarygenealogy@cabq.gov.