In the interest of public health and safety due to Covid-19, in-person tours of the museum are not being offered at this time.
Instead, docents are hosting custom virtual tours online Each tour will last approximately 50 minutes and will be offered on the Zoom platform.
Currently, tours are being scheduled to take place on: Wednesdays at 2 pm & Thursdays at 10 am Mountain Time
Visit our tour scheduleto see the calendar of tours available and register to attend.
Tours are free of charge, but registration is requested. Upon registration, the online link to the selected tour will be sent by email along with instructions for joining the group.
Our monthly history lecture presented by the Friends of History will be starting in little over an hour. Colin G. Calloway from Dartmouth will be speaking on the 1779 smallpox epidemic that devastated tribes throughout Western North America.
Do any of you participate in sewing clubs or quilting bees?
This 1917-1918 undyed cotton muslin quilt was made by members of the Anniston So and Sew Club, as the center square reads. Constructed of 10” x 10” squares laid out in a diamond pattern, each square is embroidered with a club member’s name and date. Some squares have “Logan, NM” or “San Jon, NM” as well, noting the location of the So and Sew in Quay County. Both the seams where squares are joined and the squares themselves are embellished with multicolored embroidery. This piece is completely hand quilted and measures 71.5” x 85.5”.
Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts near Fort Union, New Mexico Photographer: Wyatt Davis Date: 1939? From the New Mexico Magazine collection,Negative Number HP.2007.20.105
On this day in history, Jan. 29, 1822, William Becknell, founder of the Santa Fe Trail, returns to Franklin, Missouri, after his first trading expedition to Santa Fe. Legend has it that Spanish gold and silver coins fell from his leather pouch onto the streets, sparking a “trade rush.”
Colin G Colloway will be speaking on the impacts of the 1779 smallpox pandemic on Native American tribes throughout western North America.
Colin G. Calloway John Kimball Jr. 1943 Professor of History Professor of Native American Studies Dartmouth College.
The talk will trace the spread of the great smallpox epidemic that broke out in Mexico in 1779, traveled north to New Mexico, was transmitted from tribe to tribe across the American West, and reached eastern Canada by 1784. We will discuss its impact on Indian country and the multiple Native American communities it struck, and consider its significance for understanding the subsequent history of the United States.
Colin Calloway grew up in England and received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds. In the US, he has worked at the Center for the History of the American Indian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and taught at the University of Wyoming and Dartmouth College. He has published more than a dozen books, including One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West Before Lewis and Clark, which won six best book awards, and most recently The Indian World of George Washington, which was a National Book Award finalist and won the George Washington Prize. He has been President of the American Society for Ethnohistory and received the Western History Association’s American Indian History Lifetime Achievement Award.
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 friendsofhistorynm.org
Infant’s sunsuit or daysuit. This is a one piece garment with short sleeves, mother of pearl buttons and a scalloped collar. The outfit was worn by the donor on his first birthday, July 20th,1940. A sunsuit is an old-fashioned term for a child’s one-or-two piece suit of clothes usually consisting of shorts and sleeveless top that was worn in sunny weather but could also be used as a swimsuit. Sunsuits were usually clothing worn by toddler boys, as is the case with this outfit. NMHM/DCA 2010.13.1
Hewn wooden cross made for and used in the “Milagro Beanfield War” film (1988) directed by Robert Redford and shot in Truchas, NM. The inscription reads: “Miracle Valley Project, / Rest in Peace / El Brazo Onofre” and measures 35.5” high and 17.5” wide. Redford initially donated the piece to the Museum of International Folk Art before it was transferred to the History Museum.
Dave DeWitt joined us for January’s Friends of History 1st Wednesday Lecture to discuss how he earned the name “Pope of Peppers” and his new book that charts the spread of chile peppers throughout the world.
The Museum’s Friends of History group organizes a monthly lecture on New Mexico history by a historian, held on the the first Wednesday of each month. Informative/Promotional Text we are adding to FoH related online postings/Lecture descriptions: 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 friendsofhistorynm.org
Jeanna Gienke of Opuntia Cafe is our Creative Mornings speaker for December. This month’s topic is Biophilia and Jeanne will be talking about principles of biophilic design and how they’ve been used to create the atmosphere of Opuntia Cafe.
