Esther Martinez served her community as an educator, linguist and storyteller. Her foremost contributions to our state are documenting and preserving the Tewa language and the art of storytelling. Esther was named a National Heritage Fellow in 2006 by the National Endowment of the Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artists.
Raised on a ranch at La Liendre, Fabiola received a degree from New Mexico Normal School. She worked as a rural teacher and an agricultural Home Extension agent. In the 1930s, she became a charter member of La Sociedad Folklorica. An author and teacher, she dedicated her life to preserving Hispanic traditions. In 1954, she wrote “We Fed Them Cactus,” a book about growing up at La Liendre.
La Sociedad Folklorica de Nuevamexico ten year jubilee celebration at La Fonda, Santa Fe, New Mexico Date: 1945 Negative Number 009928 Notes: Includes Fabiola C de Baca Gilbert (second from left) and Cleofas Martinez (third from right)
Roadside Marker Location: La Liendre Community, San Miguel County, NM Highway 67 at junction with NM Highway 104
You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.
Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives San Francisco de Asis church, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico Photographer: Edward Kemp Date: 1920 – 1930? Negative Number HP.2014.45.15
The St. Francis Women’s Club was instrumental in raising funds to rebuild San Francisco de Asís Church, which had been condemned and demolished in about 1960. Their main fundraiser was the annual Fourth of July ceremonial, featuring dances of Nambé and participating Pueblos. By 1974, the group raised enough money to rebuild the church, and, in the process, helped to renew cultural traditions at Nambé.
Roadside Marker Location: Pueblo of Nambé; Santa Fe County, NM Hwy 4
You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.
Just off the press, The Press at the Palace of the Governors is pleased to announce the release of ERNIE O’MALLEY & DOROTHY STEWART IN NEW MEXICO
The title of the book comes from the 1929 diary entry of Ernie O’Malley, written in Taos, New Mexico. It is self-conversation that begins with Ernie asking, “What the hell are you doing near Indian country?” It goes on to reveal the philosophy and values of the young general in the Irish war for independence as he seeks new experiences in America. Shortly after this was recorded, he met artist Dorothy Newkirk Stewart, who lived at El Zaguán on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. The two forged a friendship based on a shared commitment to the arts, travel, and indigenous cultures that took them around New Mexico and on to Mexico.
Introduced by Cormac O’Malley, the book is a hybrid cross of an album amicorum – a friendship book – and an informal artist book, juxtaposing the words of Ernie O’Malley and early prints by Dorothy Stewart. Inspired by Dorothy’s at times “throw caution to the wind” approach to book design, we meandered into book-making parts unknown on the way to completion. Dimensions, typography, and papers were tried and ruled out until we arrived at a book you will want to caress. It won’t take long to read, but you will return to it again and again. You may even recognize yourself in it, for honestly, who of us hasn’t had a similar self-conversation?
The set type for a page and the resulting print.
With 48 pages measuring 5 x 7.5 inches, 100 copies of this letterpress edition were printed. The soft-cover binding is based on the popular travelers’ journals that we make and sell at the Palace Press. Our friend Patricia Musick, who knows more about Irish lettering than nearly anyone, designed the lettering for the title page, and also the monogram of the entwined EOM and DNS initials used on the half-title page. Text papers are Biblio and handmade Moravia, and the cover paper is a rare handmade by John Koller. It was marbled by Thomas Leech, who along with James Bourland, did the presswork. The typefaces, all handset, are Goudy Oldstyle and University of California, with Colum Cille used judiciously for the headings. That typeface was designed as a Gaelic alphabet in the 1930s and is named for the Irish monk, scribe and saint.
Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (The notorious) Mrs. Sadie Orchard on right, in front of Ocean Grove Hotel, Hillsboro, New Mexico Photographer: George T. Miller (?) Date: 1895 – 1902? Negative Number 076560
Sadie Orchard (1860-1943)
Arriving in the silver mining boomtown of Kingston in 1886, Sadie Jane Creech Orchard is arguably the most colorful woman in New Mexico history. Sadie opened brothels, worked as a prostitute, built and operated hotels and restaurants, and co-owned and drove for a regional stagecoach line. During World War I she tended to the less fortunate, and in the 1918 flu pandemic nursed children and cared for the sick and dying. New Mexico writer Erna Fergusson wrote of her, “For a bad woman, Sadie was one of the best.”
On blocks: Horse-drawn hearse used in the Santa Rita mining area of SW New Mexico, ca. 1910-1919. NMHM/DCA 003820.45
“Look Ma, no wheels!” Protection and conservation of objects are two of the most important duties of any museum, and the NMHM is no exception. Earlier this week we worked with Dept of Cultural Affairs’s Museum Resources Division staff Tim Jag, David Levine, and Angela Duckwall to remove the damaged wheels off of our early 20th century hearse. A couple of special, large sized wrenches and a few tugs later, all of the wheels were safely and carefully removed. The wheels will be sent out for conservation – new rubber! – so we can safely move the hearse in the future and ensure its public enjoyment for years to come.
Removing a wheel.Detail of the dust cover on a wheel hub.It’s always good to have options when it comes to tools.
Please look out for our wheel-less hearse as it remains on exhibit in our current show, Looking Back: Reflecting on Collections, on view in the Herzstein Gallery. Look out for a future post in the next couple of months when we reattach the newly-treated wheels. You can also check out the hearse with its wheels in place in the virtual version of Looking Back.
Conservator Angela Duckwall inspecting elements within a wheel hub.Close up of the aged rubber on one of the wheels. In many cases, bindings were needed to keep the deteriorating rubber in place on the wheels.
For more information on the Looking Back exhibit which examines the nature of collections and collecting, check out this curator talk with Alicia Romero and Hannah Abelbeck.
Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Santo Domingo Indian Trading Post, Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico Creator: New Mexico Department of Tourism Date: 1954? Negative Number 059349
Kewa Women’s Co-op, Santo Domingo Pueblo
According to oral and recorded history, the Santo Domingo people have always made and traded jewelry. From prehistoric times heishi, drilled and ground shell beads, have been strung into necklaces. Generations of Santo Domingo women have passed down this art. Recent descendants have formed the Kewa Women’s Co-op to retain heishi and other traditions including pottery, embroidery, weaving, and Pueblo foods.
Roadside Marker Location: Pueblo of Santo Domingo; Sandoval County, US Hwy 22
You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.
Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Lucien Maxwell house, Cimarron, New Mexico Photographer: Edward A. Troutman Date: 1909 Negative Number 014621
María de la Luz Beaubien Maxwell, 1829-1900 / Maxwell Land Grant
(SIDE 1) María de la Luz Beaubien, age 13, wed fur-trapper Lucien Maxwell in 1844, forever linking her to the history of the Maxwell Land Grant and New Mexico. She was born in 1829 to Charles H. Beaubien and María Pabla Lobato. Upon the death of her father in 1864, she inherited a share of her father’s portion of the Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant. Luz and her husband purchased the remaining Beaubien parcels as well as the Miranda lands, thereby owning the entire expansive tract that became known as the Maxwell Land Grant. (SIDE 2) The Maxwell Land Grant was the largest privately owned contiguous tract of land in the United States, comprising 1,714,765 acres in northeastern New Mexico and southern Colorado. It originated from the 1841 Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant that Governor Manuel Armijo made to Charles Beaubien and Guadalupe Miranda. After Beaubien’s death in 1864, his son-in-law, Lucien Maxwell, and daughter, María de la Luz, acquired the grant through inheritance and purchase. Maxwell was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in New Mexico. The Maxwells sold the land to an English company in 1870. Later disputes between settlers and grant owners characterized the history of northeastern New Mexico in the late 19th century and precipitated the Colfax County War.
Roadside Marker Location: Colfax County, US Hwy 21
You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.
Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Picurís Pueblo pottery exhibit at the first “Indian Fair,” Armory building, Santa Fe, New Mexico Date: 1922 Negative Number 000738
Maria Ramita Simbola Martinez “Summer Harvest” (1884–1969), Cora Durand (1904–1981), and Virginia Duran (1904–1998), Picuris Pueblo
Maria Ramita Simbola Martinez, Cora Durand, and Virginia Duran helped to preserve the distinctive micaceous pottery tradition that is important in Picuris and other nearby pueblos. Made with locally mined mica-rich clay, these unusual pots have a glittery sheen. They are fired at a low temperature which makes them ideal for cooking. While valued for their utility, these pots are also now considered works of art.
Roadside Marker Location: Pueblo of Picuris; Taos County, US Hwy 75/ Indian Road, Mile Marker 11.5
You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.
Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Maria Martinez polishing pottery, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico Photographer: Wyatt Davis Date: 1938 Negative Number: 044192
Maria Montoya Martinez, Povika, “Pond Lily” (ca. 1886–1980)
Maria Martinez was a self-taught potter who helped elevate Pueblo pottery to a respected art form. She and her husband Julian were successful polychrome potters and together revived black pottery. Their work improved the economic conditions of the community. Recognized internationally, Maria was an innovator with strong spiritual and cultural awareness. Her skills and techniques have been carried on successfully by subsequent generations.
Roadside Marker Location: Pueblo of San Ildefonso; Rio Arriba County, US Hwy 502, Mile Marker 12.537
You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.
