The East Mountain Historical Society earlier this spring gave an online presentation that couples the history of Route 66 in New Mexico and the state’s license plates.
Rick Holben, vice president of the society and a license plate collector, shares his knowledge of those license plates, going back to plates issued in 1912, the first year of statehood, with some facts about Route 66 thrown into the presentation.
According to a news release about the presentation:
Route 66 runs through the heart of the near 400-square-mile area of interest to the East Mountain Historical Society, so-named because it is headquartered in the mountains east of Albuquerque. The program was a takeoff on the 2021 calendar produced by the group, Old Route 66. Those who tune into the presentation will hear detailed history about the photos of historic license plates and by-gone East Mountain views of Route 66 that appeared each month in the calendar, plus related photographs that dovetailed with the presentation. Dozens of additional New Mexico license plates from Holben’s collection are shown at the program’s conclusion.
Past EMHS president and communications director Denise Tessier outlined a script for the presentation and interviewed Holben for the recording. EMHS Zoommaster Debbie Post recorded it, adding title pages and photographs, and integrated the recording into the live broadcast on March 21. This allowed EMHS President Robyn Hoffman to introduce the live program and allowed viewers to ask Holben questions at the end. EMHS Webmaster Kathy Rich set up a Recorded Programs Archive page on the EMHS website just for this history presentation, but the group anticipates adding more virtual programs on the page, including another featuring Route 66.
The video of the license-plate presentation can be downloaded from the society’s website here.
More about the history of New Mexico license plates can be found at this remarkably comprehensive website, NMplates.com.
UPDATE 7/14/2021: The YouTube video of the presentation has been taken down due to a copyright claim by the society.
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