NMHM/DCA 01542.45 Gift of Josefita Manderfield Otero
Spanish Playing Cards, late 1800s This deck of Spanish playing cards was donated to the New Mexico History Museum by Josefita Manderfield Otero.
Originally of Chinese origin, playing cards were adopted in Mamluk Egypt by the 14th century and then spread to the Iberian Peninsula in the latter part of that century. By 1380 naipero (card-maker), was a recognized profession. The four suits are bastos (clubs), oros (gold coins), copas (cups), and espadas (swords). Spanish suited cards are used in Spain, Southern Italy, France, Latin America, North Africa and the Philippines. Unlike the suits found in Northern Italy, the swords on Spanish cards are straight, and the clubs are knotty instead of being depicted as ceremonial batons. Several of the cards from this deck can be seen in the History Museum’s exhibition, Telling New Mexico.
Shave permit pins from the Teddy Roosevelt Centennial celebrations in Las Vegas, NM (1958), and a shave permit from the Clovis, NM 50th anniversary celebration, 1957. Shaving permit pins such as these were sold as a way to raise money for centennial or anniversary celebrations in many towns across the country. As part of the fundraising effort, citizens could register for a beard-growing contest. If someone did not want to participate in the contest, they could purchase a “shave permit.” This jokingly gave one “permission to shave.” The proceeds from the sale of the permits and registration fees for the contests were put towards the town’s celebration fund. Why a beard-growing contest? Often, the Brothers of the Brush would spearhead the fundraising efforts. This organization got its name because they sought to emulate the towns’ founders. Many of the towns were founded in the Victorian period when beards and mustaches were in vogue. The Brothers of the Brush decided to capitalize on this look and encouraged beard-growing as a way to raise money. NMHM/DCA 11501.45 and 2014.53.159
Shave permit pin from the Clovis 50th Anniversary celebration in 1957 NMHM/DCA 2014.53.159
This month’s Friends of History 1st Wednesday Lecture was delivered by Dr. Matthew Babcock, Associate Professor of History at the University of North Texas at Dallas. The streaming of the video was followed by a livestreamed Q&A which is at the bottom of this post.
This lecture will focus on the forgotten Chihene Apache farming experiment at Sabinal, New Mexico from 1790-1795 by placing it in the context of Apache-Spanish relations and Spanish Indian policy. In response to drought and military pressure, thousands of Apaches de paz settled near Spanish presidios after 1786 in a system of reservation-like establecimientos, or settlements, stretching from Laredo to Tucson. On paper the establecimientos constituted the earliest and most extensive set of military-run reservations in the Americas. Yet, Apaches de paz typically exhibited mixed loyalties, sometimes serving Spanish interests, and other times subverting them, demonstrating the limits of indigenous assimilation into imperial states.
Friends of History is a volunteer support group for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its mission is to raise funds and public awareness for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs. Friends of History fulfills its mission by offering high quality public history programs, including the First Wednesday Lecture Series. For more information, or to join the Friends of History, go to friends-of-history.org or email us here.
A 19th century measuring box known as a media fanega (or a half fanega). It is made of milled pine and enforced with metal strips, and has a leather handle. A fanega was an old Spanish unit of measurement usually used to measure grains. The measure varied from region to region in the Spanish-speaking Americas. This object is just one of approximately 16,000 objects in the history museum’s collections. These objects are not just used for exhibit, but are often used for research.
Recently, a scholar studying the different Spanish units of measurement requested dimensions of several of these measuring units. From these internal dimensions, he calculated this media fanega at 2,428.3 cubic inches. His research calculates that an official standard set by the 1852 New Mexico territorial legislature for the unit measurement of the media fanega was 2,476.25 cubic inches. Thus, he determined that of all the media fanegas in the museum’s collection from that time period, this media fanega was the closest to that official measurement.
The collections staff thanks all the scholars and researchers who continue to provide extended knowledge to our object records.
Larry and Alyce Frank Collection NMHM/DCA 2007.032.228
San Ignacio de Loyola retablo by José Aragón, ca. 1820-1835. San Ignacio de Loyola / St. Ignatius of Loyola (Oct 23, 1491-July 31,1556) was part of a noble Basque family who underwent a spiritual conversion following a military campaign where he was severely injured. This experience led him to write the Spiritual Exercises as a path for seeking the will of God. San Ignacio co-founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1540, and spent the rest of his life promoting missionization and education.
José Aragón, a well-known santero (maker of Nuevomexicano Catholic objects) active in the Mexican period of New Mexico’s history, produced retablos (paintings on panel) and bultos (carved wooden sculptures) in and around the Santa Fe area. His depiction of San Ignacio shows the saint in a typical pose, holding what is presumably the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus with the order’s Christogram on the front.
This retablo is part of the Larry and Alyce Frank Collection of over two hundred retablos, bultos, and cristos (crucifixes) that the couple collected for nearly forty years throughout northern New Mexico. Regular visitors to the museum will remember seeing the Frank Collection in Tesoros de Devoción, a beloved exhibition in the Palace of the Governors that celebrated the work of Nuevomexicano santeros and their santos.
An NM PBS video highlighting the Tesoros de Devocion exhibtion
NMHM/DCA 2014.030.001 a-b. Gift of Francis H. Harlow
1940 Harley-Davidson owned by Francis H. Harlow (22 January 1928 – 1 July 2016)( The Library of Congress’s listing on Francis H Harlow.) , an American theoretical physicist and researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Harlow was also a noted expert on Pueblo pottery of the Southwest, publishing in this field as well as in physics. In fact, Harlow traded one of his favorite Pueblo pottery jars for this 1940 Harley Davidson and was known to ride it to nearby Pueblos in search of pottery. He donated his extensive collection of Pueblo pottery to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture several years before his death. In 2016, Harlow’s autobiography was published in the collection Adventures in Physics and Pueblo Pottery: Memoirs of a Los Alamos Scientist.
Museum Educator Melanie LaBorwit shows how you can easily (Super Easily!) explore making block prints to make greeting cards, artworks and more using simple materials you likely have around the house.
The Stonewall riots began in Greenwich Village after 1 am on June 28, 1969, and they continued with varied levels of intensity through July 3rd. For those who witnessed or heard about the events, the rebellion sparked a sense of urgency for change. Stonewall’s aftermath inspired new organizations and new tactics, in New York City and across the country.
This pressing desire for action resonated in New Mexico too; organizers in Albuquerque attempted to form a chapter of the Gay Liberation Front at UNM in 1970. By 1975, activist energy in Albuquerque coalesced around two organizations, a local group called Juniper and the Metropolitan Community Church, both of which focused on community, support, and self-acceptance in the face of mainstream prejudice. In 1976, these organizations co-hosted the first Pride march in Albuquerque with about 25 participants, no permit, and no media attention.
100+ marchers from the MCC, the Gay Co-op, and Lambdas de Santa Fe again celebrated “Christopher Street Resistance” in Albuquerque in 1977, chanting “Out of the closets, into the streets.” The featured speaker that year was Mattachine Society founder (and New Mexico resident) Harry Hay, who called for a “coalition among all scapegoat minorities—Indians, Chicanos, Blacks, women in the women’s movement, and gays.” The marchers’ cars were egged, they were booed and heckled (but also cheered), and a local church passed out “Gay No More” pamphlets. Undaunted, one woman told a reporter for the alternative newspaper Seers Rio Grande Weekly that “The homophobes and hatemongers will just have to look out ‘cause we’re coming out and we’re not going back.”
By 1981, when this Lesbian & Gay Pride Week program was created, Pride was organized by the Gay Co-op. Around that time, 1980 or 1981, one woman marched with a paper bag over her head, a compromise since she wanted to be a part of the public demonstration but was worried that being out could cause her to lose her job or her son.
These early parades might have been the first time that Albuquerque locals could see how many gay people, often talked about in the abstract or singly, were members of the community: neighbors, friends, family, coworkers, and teachers. But, it is important to note, these celebrations and demonstrations weren’t for the straights, they were for the gay community and for liberation.
Albuquerque Pride gave us permission to post their copy of this 1981 program, signed by the artist, Ray Sandoval.
1981 Albuquerque Lesbian & Gay Pride week event schedule. Published by Common Bond
Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, formerly enslaved, engraving by Barry Moser (Pennyroyal Press, 2020)
Slavery was formerly abolished (again) in New Mexico by a Congressional act on June 19, 1862, which prohibited slavery in current and future US territories. This was prior to the more famous Emancipation Proclamation (issued September 22, 1862, enacted January 1, 1863), which was supposed to free the enslaved in ten Confederate states. And it was three years to the day before the first Juneteenth, June 19, 1865, when news of the Proclamation reached enslaved people in Galveston, Texas.
While in theory the 13th Amendment of 1865 and the Anti-Peonage Act of 1867 (which names New Mexico specifically) effectively made slavery and servitude illegal in the US, social and legal systems of discrimination, such as the Jim Crow laws, continued to oppress African Americans (and many other historically marginalized people). These systems only began to shift in response to the successes of the Civil Rights movements and the Great Society legislation of the 1960s.
New Mexico’s antislavery history is complex and centuries long. As part of the Spanish colonial empire, slavery was abolished here in 1512 and again in 1543, although African and Indigenous people continued to be widely enslaved throughout the Americas. In 1829, Mexico abolished slavery in its states and territories, including New Mexico (but excluding Texas). American occupation reopened these debates.
Historic Emancipation Day and Juneteenth celebrations have taken place in Roswell, Clovis, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque since at least the 1890s and include music, food, games, sports, and pageantry with attendees dressed in their finest clothes. Juneteenth has been a New Mexico state holiday since 2006, and it helps make visible our African American communities while celebrating the end of one phase of a significant part of our national history.
Join New Mexico History Museum Educator, Melanie LaBorwit in upcycling an old t-shirt to make a brand new tote bag…with a bonus tip too.
This month’s Making History activity is a nod to the spirit of the exhibit “Voices of the Counterculture in the Southwest” which was hosted by the New Mexico History Museum in 2017 & 2018 and is now available to experience in an online experience. Making History is a Monthly series, which is held on the first Sunday of each month at the New Mexico History Museum. visit us online at: nmhistorymuseum.org on facebook: @NewMexicoHistoryMuseum
