Marking NM’s Historic Women: Pablita Velarde

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Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Pablita Velarde, Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico
Photographer: Harold Kellogg
Date: 1938
Negative Number 077541

Pablita Velarde was an internationally acclaimed artist whose paintings largely depicted Pueblo life. She was commissioned by the WPA art’s program to paint murals at Bandelier National Monument. Selected as one of New Mexico’s “Living Treasures”, she received many awards, including the French Palmes Académique, the New Mexico Governor’s Award for achievement in the arts, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eight Northern Pueblos.

Roadside Marker Location: Rio Arriba County, US Hwy 30 West Side, Mile Marker 7.1

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

You can view a map of the Historic Women Mile Markers at www.nmhistoricwomen.org

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

Marking NM’s Historic Women: Marjorie Bell Chambers & Peggy Pond Church

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Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Residence of Peggy Pond Church and husband Fermor at Los Alamos Ranch School, Los Alamos, New Mexico
Photographer: T. Harmon Parkhurst
Date: 1925 – 1942?
Negative Number 001288

(SIDE 1) Marjorie Bell Chambers advised Governors and Presidents, participated in the formation of The United Nations, and headed two women’s colleges. She was president of the Los Alamos Girl Scouts, a founding member of the Historical Society and a project historian of the US Atomic Energy Commission for Los Alamos. She served on the County Council, campaigned for Congress, and traveled worldwide advocating for women’s rights. (SIDE 2) Peggy Pond Church, author of the Southwest classic The House at Otowi Bridge and daughter of Los Alamos Ranch School founder Ashley Pond, will forever be “The First Lady of New Mexican Poetry.” As she rode the Pajarito Plateau and camped beneath tall pines, she came to understand that “it is the land that wants to be said.” She captured it in her sensitive poems.

Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
“Requiem for Edith” by Peggy Pond Church
Library Archival Collection 235-p

Roadside Marker Location: Los Alamos County, US Hwy 502, Mile Marker 0.954

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

You can view a map of the Historic Women Mile Markers at www.nmhistoricwomen.org

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

Marking NM’s Historic Women: Zuni Olla Maidens

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Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Zuni olla carriers performing Dance for War and Peace, New Mexico
Photographer: Wyatt Davis
Date: 1943
Negative Number 090735

The Zuni Olla Maidens are an all-women’s group renowned for their skill and ability to balance fragile water jars or ollas on their heads. Historically, Zuni women collected water in ollas from nearby springs for everyday use. Today, they perform in parades and community events, walking with water jars placed on their heads while singing their own compositions and those traditionally sung by Zuni men.

Roadside Marker Location: Pueblo of Zuni; McKinley County, US Hwy 53, Mile Marker 17

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

You can view a map of the Historic Women Mile Markers at www.nmhistoricwomen.org

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

Marking NM’s Historic Women: Mother Magdalen & the Sisters of Loretto

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Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Loretto Academy and Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date: ca. 1887-1902
Negative Number 072294
Caption reads: “Convent and Chapel – Our Lady of Light”.

Mother Magdalen and the Sisters of Loretto

(Side 1) Four Sisters of Loretto, Mother Magdalen Hayden and Sisters Roberta Brown, Rosana Dant and Catherine Mahoney, arrived in Santa Fe from Kentucky on September 26, 1852. In January 1853 they established Our Lady of Light Academy, later known as Loretto, the first school for young women in the Territory of New Mexico. (Side 2) Between 1863 and 1879 the Sisters with the help of local people raised funds to build the Loretto Chapel. During the next century, hundreds of women, many of them of Hispanic heritage joined, joined the Sisters of Loretto. Lucia Perea became the first native-born New Mexican superior at Loretto, Santa Fe in 1896.

Roadside Marker Location: Santa Fe County, Alameda Street city of Santa Fe

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

Marking NM’s Historic Women: Dessie Sawyer & Fern Sawyer

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Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Fern Sawyer, rancher, women’s rodeo pioneer and cowgirl champion, New Mexico
Photographer: Ann Bromberg
Date: 1985
Negative Number HP.2008.31.13

Lea County Cowgirls: Dessie Sawyer (1897–1990) and Fern Sawyer (1917–1993)

Dessie Sawyer was a rancher, philanthropist and political activist. Her work with community and charitable organizations advanced her into politics. She became the National Committee Woman of New Mexico’s Democratic Party. Her advocacy of the western way of life was recognized by her induction into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1981. Dessie’s daughter, Fern Sawyer, became a celebrity cowgirl. She was the first woman to win the National Cutting Horse world title. She also became the first woman appointed to the State Fair Commission and the State Racing Commission. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1976.

Roadside Marker Location: Lea County, US Hwy 380, Mile Marker 231.1

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

You can view the locations of the Historic Women on a map interface at NMHistoricWomen.org

Marking NM’s Historic Women: Mary Ann Deming Crocker

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Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Harvey House depot hotel, Deming, New Mexico
Date: 1893
Negative Number 013840

Mary Ann Deming Crocker (1829-1889) “Namesake of Deming”

Born in 1827, Mary Ann Deming was married to Charles Crocker, one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad. A “silver spike” was driven here in 1881 that commemorated connecting the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads, and signaled completion of the nation’s second transcontinental railroad. The new settlement was christened Deming in Mary’s honor for her generosity and benevolence to many charitable causes for the poor.

Roadside Marker Location: Luna County, US Hwy 180

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

Marking NM’s Historic Women: The Women of Shakespeare

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A view of 3 adobe buildings with peaked rooves with at flat bed wagon in the foreground.
Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Abandoned railroad tracks and buildings in Shakespeare, New Mexico
Creator: New Mexico Tourism Bureau
Date: 1950 – 1960?
Negative Number: HP.2007.20.508

Women of Shakespeare: Emma Marble Muir (1873–1959), Rita Wells Hill (1901–1985), Janaloo Hill Hough (1939–2005)

Emma Marble Muir arrived at the mining town of Shakespeare in 1882. She and her daughter, Rita Wells Muir, learned to appreciate and preserve the town’s history. Rita and her husband bought Shakespeare as part of their ranch in 1935. Rita passed the ranch to her daughter, Janaloo Hill Hough. Janaloo and her husband continued fighting for the history and preservation of Shakespeare. Investing their own resources, they rebuilt some of the buildings destroyed by a fire in 1997. Without the dedication of this mother, daughter and granddaughter, the ghost town of Shakespeare would not exist today.

Roadside Marker Location: Hidalgo County, I-10, Mile Marker 20

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

You can view a map of the Historic Women Mile Markers at www.nmhistoricwomen.org

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

From the Collection

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NMHM/DCA 11731.45

A black, alpaca wool jacket with velvet and rick-rack trim around the neckline and along the shoulders, c. 1904-1913.
This object represents one type of merchandise sold in a general store on the plaza in Chimayo, NM that was owned by Victor Ortega and later his son, Ben. Victor Ortega was heavily involved in the community. He was also a notary public, a postmaster, participated in the 1st constitutional convention of NM and also acted as the director of the local school and served as a probate judge.

Read more about Victor Ortega in this Spring 2012 El Palacio article titled “Don Victor Ortega.“
NMHM/DCA 11731.45

Marking NM’s Historic Women: Katherine Stinson Otero

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A woman sitting in the open cockpit of a bi-wing airplane. A man standing next to the plane is handing a woman a bag.
Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Aviator Katherine Stinson Otero on airmail route, Calgary, Canada
Photographer: W. V. Ring
Date: July 9, 1918
Negative Number 047669

Katherine Stinson Otero (1891-1977)

Katherine was the fourth American woman to earn a pilot’s license and the first female skywriter. She overcame pioneering aviator Max Lillie’s reluctance to teach her to fly, and became the “Flying Schoolgirl,” nicknamed for her youthful looks, small stature, and derring-do. Katherine marveled spectators, rolling her plane, skywriting at night with flares attached to its wings, and maneuvering risky loop-the-loops. With her family she founded the Stinson Aviation Company, designed aircraft, and operated a flight school. She was the first aviatrix to fly the Orient and set a record in 1917 for the longest West Coast solo flight.

Roadside Marker Location: Santa Fe County, US Hwy 284

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division.

You can view the locations of the Historic Women on a map interface at NMHistoricWomen.org