Tag Archives: new mexico history museum

Dispatches: Good Friday Pilgrimages in New Mexico

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A group of people standing around three wooden crosses on a rocky hillside.
Good Friday, Tomé Hill, Stations of the Cross, 1976.
Courtesy of Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts

New Mexico has several well-known Easter pilgrimage sites reflecting its Hispano-Catholic roots. While Chimayó may be the most famous, it’s worth mentioning Tomé Hill, south of Albuquerque, and Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, NM.

Tomé Hill

Tomé Hill is a high point about 30 miles south of Albuquerque in Valencia County on the east side of the Rio Grande River and five miles southeast of Los Lunas. The prominent high spot has attracted travelers for thousands of years and was once a major landmark along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Petroglyphs (rock art) along the route speak to even earlier significance as a possible spiritual site for Native and early Hispano peoples. The current Christian pilgrimage tradition started as a passion play in Tomé Plaza in 1948 and later evolved into a procession and ascent up Tomé Hill with members of the Hermanos Penitentes (Penitent Brotherhood), a lay Catholic fraternity, carrying and then erecting a cross on the summit. Today, visitors can see from below several crosses that dominate the summit view, hike to the top, or participate in the Good Friday pilgrimage.

Steel arch sculpture with steel sculpture people and animal figures in front of the arch and a desert hill in the background.
La Puerta del Sol, Cor-Ten steel sculpture by Armando Alvarez at the foot of Tomé Hill, NM.

Learn more:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/new-mexico-el-cerro-de-tome.htm

Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts has nearly 60 images from the 1970s online: https://nmdigital.unm.edu/digital/collection/loslunas/search/searchterm/tome%20hill/page/2

Mount Cristo Rey

On the far southern border with Mexico, in Sunland, NM, Sierra de Cristo Rey, or Mount Cristo Rey, is home to a 29-foot-tall limestone statue of Christ with his arms outstretched on a cross. The mountain straddles the US and Mexico border and serves as a pilgrimage site for thousands who travel from El Paso, TX, Southern New Mexico, and Chihuahua, Mexico. To reach the statue at the top, pilgrims ascend a 2.2-mile gravel path. The monument was constructed in 1939 by sculptor Urbici Soler, who donated his time and money to fund a large part of the construction. The cross has been continuously standing and maintained by volunteers since October 29, 1939. New Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua, Mexico are all visible from the top.

Learn more:
http://www.mtcristorey.com/

This 2018 YouTube video provides a great visual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urpg0g0uVUs

Tomé Hill is open year-round, and Mount Cristo Rey is open on a limited basis for special events, but they are both abuzz with the faithful, as well as the curious, during annual Good Friday pilgrimages. If you have walked either route or know of other pilgrimage sites in New Mexico, let us know!

Black and white image of a crowd of people in the parking lot of a church with one man holding a large wooden cross over his shoulder.
Arrival at the Santuario, 1996. Photograph by Sam Howarth. Neg. no. HP.2024.14.14. POG/NMHM.

If you’re in Santa Fe be sure you see our new exhibition opening April 12, Chimayó: A Tradition of Faith to learn more about the state’s largest and most known pilgrimage site: https://nmhistorymuseum.org/exhibition/details/6558/chimayo-a-tradition-of-faith

Mark Dodge
Curator of Southwest Memories
Mark.Dodge@dca.nm.gov

Dispatches from the Curator of Southwest Memories

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Nine Eagle Scout boys and two men in uniforms pose for a group photo with a female camp counselor holding a sign for the Philmont Scout Ranch.
Memory-making at Philmont Scout Ranch. Mark Dodge, Curator of Southwest Memories, is in the back row, third from right.

My first memory of New Mexico is from a trip to Philmont Scout Ranch when I was 17 years old. I rode the train from Michigan to attend a week-long high adventure backpacking trip, where I encountered bears and rattlesnakes. My experience on that trip created a positive, lasting memory and is a part of my personal story.

How do you define memories? Maybe as recollections or ideas of the past? Something that happened to you, or something you heard from others? A remembered experience, interesting factoid, or emotional response? Or all the above? Memories are often ethereal in quality and our own labeling as “good” or “bad” may change and evolve through time. The memories we carry form the basis of our personal histories and shape our views about the world and our place in it. Therefore, it makes sense to share and discuss memories in a museum, since we’re filled with them. Hopefully the museum is fertile ground to create new ones too. 

I’m interested in the people-centered work of building community, so I plan to keep these ideas in mind while exploring the diverse stories from New Mexico. I’m new here, and I’m curious to soak up the stories of my new home. This blog is a forum to share behind-the-scenes research, conversations, and interesting and memorable content. It’ll be informal with links from around the state that celebrate all things New Mexico. I plan to learn from you, too, and welcome your ideas and resources.

My name is Mark and I’m the new Curator of Southwest Memories. I want to hear your memories from the Land of Enchantment, and I look forward to sharing the unique and fascinating stories I learn with you.

Cheers,

Mark Dodge, Curator of Southwest Memories, Mark.Dodge@dca.nm.gov.

A bison in a barn reaches out to lick a Caucasian man smiling beside the barn window.
Memory-making with Clyde, New Mexico’s most famous animal actor, at Mortenson’s-Eaves Movie Ranch.

Groundbreaking New Mexico history collection of Edgar L. Hewett digitized for easy public viewing at New Mexico History Museum

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A person stands next to a table sorting black and white photos from a file box.
Hewett project photo archivist Hall Frost looks for a photo in the collection.

A significant collection of manuscripts and photographs from Museum of New Mexico founder Edgar L. Hewett (1865-1946) are now browsable online thanks to a major grant from the National Historical Publications & Records Commission (NHPRC). The newly digitized collection expands New Mexico History Museum’s (NMHM) mission to offer statewide educational resources to anyone interested in learning about the diverse history of the state and its connections to the rest of the world.

Previously viewable only by appointment, the Hewett Collection is NMHM’s most consulted document collection. Members of the public are now able to see more than 63,000 pages and more than 2000 additional photographs online 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a new digital interface.

Hewett was at the forefront of modern Southwestern archaeology during his time. He trained a new generation of archaeologists, including women, and advocated for the United States Antiquities Act (1906). He led the Museum of New Mexico and the School of American Archaeology (today known as the School for Advanced Research) and was integral to the cultural preservation of many New Mexican historical and archaeological sites.

Hewett Project Archivist Sarah Rounsville saw firsthand the sheer number of people, organizations, projects, and events that appear in the Hewett collection as she digitized each document. Rounsville observes that many topics in culture, the arts, politics, history, rights, and cultural conflict still fascinate researchers.

A person’s arms and hands are placing a document under a digital scanner with a computer screen showing the scan.
Hewett project archivist Sarah Rounsville digitizes a letter from the collection on the library’s new book scanner.

While digitizing the collection, archivists were able to collaborate and make connections across papers and photographs. Rounsville and Hewett Project Photo Archivist Hall Frost were able to identify Native American laborers in photographs by consulting payroll documents about archaeological excavations. Rounsville says that the efforts they put into the digital project creates new opportunities for more people to find, interact with, and interpret the material.

“By making Hewett’s papers widely available, researchers can grapple with the history of Southwestern archaeology and the methods and systems Hewett built as he elevated the Southwest’s culture on the world stage,” said Hewett digitization project manager Heather McClure, Librarian and Archivist at the Museum’s Fray Angelico Chavez History Library.

The Hewett collection is the first digitization project for NMHM’s new Digital Asset Management System, and the next project is already underway. NMHM anticipates publishing significant portions of New Mexico artist Gustave Baumann’s archival collection in 2025.

More information about the Hewett Collection can be found at:

Edgar L. Hewett Digitized Collections
https://archives.newmexicoculture.org/edgar-l-hewett-collection

Edgar L. Hewett Collection finding aid
https://nmarchives.unm.edu/repositories/10/resources/413

Edgar L. Hewett Photographs and Ephemera Collection finding aid
https://nmarchives.unm.edu/repositories/20/resources/5055

New Mexico History Museum Digital Collections landing page
https://archives.newmexicoculture.org

New Mexico History Museum makes new Gustave Baumann collections available to researchers

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Black and white photo of Gustave Baumann fixing a marionette
Gustave Baumann and marionettes, circa 1959

Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) is the home for new collections about the life and work of internationally acclaimed artist and printer Gustave Baumann. Born in Germany, Baumann was an internationally noted printer and artist who settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1918. He died in 1971. 

In 2021, the Ann Baumann Trust donated a substantial collection of Gustave Baumann’s documents and photographs to NMHM. The new gift, along with previously donated Baumann material, is now open to researchers by appointment.  

The newly available papers include Baumann’s correspondence with his wide circle of friends, his annual hand-printed Christmas cards, letters between museum collections throughout the United States, photographs of Santa Fe, and the naturalization certificate he received upon becoming a United States citizen in 1904. Some of the materials were previously featured in In a Modern Rendering: The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann: A Catalogue Raisonné by Gala Chamberlain and Nancy E. Green, published by Rizzoli Electa. In addition to archival materials, the donation included more than 200 of Baumann’s wood printing blocks.

“These materials provide detailed insights into Gustave Baumann’s personal relationships and business practices. They are an important resource for anyone wanting to better understand Mr. Baumann and his times,” said Billy G. Garrett, executive director of NMHM. 

The work has been spearheaded by Alice Wehling, a contract archivist working with museum staff, who processed and organized the collection, and Madisyn Rostro, a project collections assistant who catalogued and photographed the wood print blocks. Funding for this work was provided by the Ann Baumann Trust.  

Marionettes of the Baumann family
Baumann family marionettes, circa 1959

Researchers, including art collectors and students of Southwestern history, can discover what’s available by browsing new finding aids that describe the organization and content of the collection. The finding aids for both the papers in the NM Archives and photographs (also in the NM Archives) are now available via the New Mexico Archives Online website. Researchers who wish to see the Baumann papers should arrange an appointment with the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library; appointments to view photographs should be made with the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives. The next phase of the project will selectively digitize items from the collections and make them available online. 

Other Baumann-related materials, principally his artwork and marionettes, are included in the collections of the New Mexico Museum of Art, also a part of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.  

Spotlight: New Mexico History Museum Summer Interns

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FATIMA DEL ANGEL GUEVARA: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives

Intern working in the photo archives
Fatima working with an album in the Photo Archives processing room.

Fatima Del Angel Guevara joined the NMHM Palace of the Governors Photo Archives as one of our Summer 2023 interns. A graduate student pursuing a doctorate in Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, Fatima is also interested in exploring the archival field, and has worked as a research assistant at UNM’s Center for Southwest Research before starting her internship with the NMHM. She is particularly skilled at creating bilingual English/ Spanish metadata for archival collections and identified a need for bilingual finding aids on the New Mexico Archives Online platform. During her first month she at the Photo Archives, Fatima has already worked on four projects involving collections of photographs related to the Mexican Revolution, the Mexican Border War and the United States Mexican Expedition, topics she became familiar with during her Masters in Latin American Studies that she completed at UNM.  After revising and translating metadata into Spanish and English and creating bilingual finding aids for the photograph collections, Fatima is currently working on rehousing and writing the metadata for a collection of photographs of Mexico. 

Casasola finding aid

Musgrave finding aid

Photographs of the Mexican Punitive Expedition

Views of Central America

However, an internship at the Photo Archives does not mean it’s all work and no fun for Fatima. Asked what she enjoys the most beside getting a hands-on experience with our amazing photograph resources, Fatima’s answer was “visiting the New Mexico History Museum and the other museums in Santa Fe and getting to enjoy Santa Fe in the summer.” Does she have a hobby? Yes, hiking. And her favorite color? Green. 

MATHIEU DEBIC: Fray Angélico Chávez Library

Intern working at the Chavez Library
Mathieu surveying archival collections in the Chavez Library.

Mathieu Debic is also a UNM graduate student, specializing in Philosophy and Museum Studies.  This summer internship is an opportunity for him to figure out whether library and archival work would be a good career fit for him. The Chavez Library has started to benefit from Mathieu’s skills and previous experience as a graduate fellow at UNM’s Center for Southwest Research, and he has already been involved in several projects this month. He has contributed a great deal to NMHM’s accession processing report by tracking down old accession paperwork and updating the existing documentation. He has processed several additions to existing collections and has processed and digitized the Westfall Cigar Box Label Collection, a colorful and rich archival resource, and has also written and published the finding aid. His current project involves revising the metadata for the library’s map collection. Mathieu recently joined librarian Kathleen Dull on a visit to the house of author Lucy Lippard, who is donating her research collection to the Chávez Library. Not much can come closer to a hands-on experience with collection acquisition procedures than moving sixteen boxes and reviewing inventory lists, with the added bonus of meeting the donor in person. In addition, Mathieu has started revising the periodical collection retention policies – it turns out that this has been Mathieu’s favorite project so far, as he is interested in comparing journal retention policies at an academic library vs. the Chavez Library, whose focus is more specialized and tied to NMHM’s mission and scope. Ultimately, Mathieu hopes that an updated periodical retention policy will help to free up some much-needed space on the library’s shelves to the benefit of rare books and archival collections.

Outside of work, Mathieu likes to spend some of his free time on gardening, and is grateful that Albuquerque’s climate and sandy soil allows him to experiment growing a variety of plants. Not surprisingly, given his green thumb, Mathieu’s favorite color is green.

We are fortunate to have Fatima and Mathieu share their skills and expertise with us this summer, and we hope that this internship is a rewarding experience for both of them.