Tag Archives: new mexico history museum

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

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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.  

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 and photographs 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

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 Casasola, Musgrave, Farnsworth Photographs of the Mexican Punitive Expedition, and Views of Central America photograph collections, Fatima is currently working on rehousing and writing the metadata for a collection of photographs of Mexico. 

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

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.

A Grand Dame of the Printing Arts

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Joining our friends group, the Palace Guard, carries perks. Among them: a series of field trips, including a September visit to an unknown gem of Santa Fe.

300-JackLemonJack Lemon (at left) founded Landfall Press in Chicago in 1970. Eleven years ago, he moved the operation here, carrying a legacy of working with international artists and fine stone lithography.

To better understand the role that lithographic images played in forming people’s opinions of the Civil War, Palace Press Director Tom Leech arranged a special tour and a demonstration on Landfall’s mammoth Marinoni Voirin press. (See a cool video here.)

With Meredith Davidson and Daniel Kosharek, Leech co-curated our exhibit, Fading Memories: Echoes of the Civil War. His portion explores how mass distribution of lithographic images shaped the opinions of a largely illiterate public. Pointing to Landfall’s precious stone bearing an image of Frederick Douglass, Leech noted that it was made by Louis Kurz of the Kurz and Allison publishing team.

“In our exhibit, The Fort Pillow Massacre is one outstanding example of their work,” he said. “These prints were sold to survivors and families as memorial pieces that glorified the war. Somewhere along the line, Kurz’s conscience got to him, and he included black soldiers in a way that was very honorable.”

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Money, money, money

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Stucco2_10-15Do you ever wonder how the History Museum pays for all the wonderful exhibits we have? Or its knowledgeable staff? Or that fabulous lecture? The answer is … well, it’s complicated.

Under this year’s budget, the state of New Mexico provided about $2.8 million for operating costs, including salaries, utilities, and supplies. Last year’s Legislature provided an additional $680,000 for capital improvements, which includes the ongoing Palace renovation. (That’s museum Director Andrew Wulf on the right, talking with Elmo Griego of Longhorn Construction, which is overseeing the Palace stucco project.)

The Museum of New Mexico Foundation will raise another $550,000 or so this year for exhibits and programs—although that sum is a moving target, given two new major exhibits opening in May. The museum also enjoys generous support from Los Compadres, who members have repeatedly stepped up to raise money for all manner of special projects. Foundation and museum staff also collaborates to apply for grants that produce even more money, usually for public programs like lectures and symposia.

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Early Childhood Education Thrives at the Museum

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HeadStart-puppettheaterIn just over two years, the New Mexico History Museum’s pre-K program for local Head Start classrooms provided more than 1,500 free visits and classroom time to children, parents and teachers. Begun with generous funding by the Brindle Foundation, it faced a sad demise at the end of 2015 until two angels arrived. Stephen and Jane Hochberg, longtime supporters of the museum, have provided funds to keep the program alive and begin expanding it.

The newly named Hochberg Early Childhood Education Academy “is a marquee program for the museum because it is a core piece of outreach,” Director Andrew Wulf said. “We’re offering the opportunity for early childhood–age visitors to come to the museum with their families in a structured and educationally fulfilling experience.”

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Time Tripping with the Palace Guard

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Members of the Palace Guard pose for a picture during their 2015 visit to Jemez Historic Site.

Members of the Palace Guard pose for a picture during their 2015 visit to Jemez Historic Site.

The Palace Guard serves as the “friends” group for the New Mexico History Museum and Palace of the Governors. Participants pay for a higher level of membership within the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, which helps support educational programs and other essentials. In return, members gain access to backstage tours and field trips to broaden their grasp of the art, culture and history of the Southwest.

This year, the Palace Guard’s volunteer steering committee, under the chairmanship of Michael Ettema, took the lead in plotting out a variety of trips and programs.

“We wanted to give more power to them,” said Meredith Davidson, curator of 19th– and 20th-century Southwest collections. “We wanted to pull from their knowledge and specific interests. And they are passionate about several overnight trips we’re offering this year.”

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Volunteer Training Produces a Bumper Crop

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docent-2This year’s training for New Mexico History Museum guides attracted more than 40 signups—the largest group in recent memory. Every Tuesday morning, they gather for a talk on some aspect of New Mexico history, combined with a walk-through of the relevant parts of our exhibits. There, Education Programs Manager René Harris and Educator Melanie LaBorwit note ways to engage visitors by combining the earlier lecture’s lessons with artifacts, maps and photographs.

Guest speakers include former Palace Director Tom Chávez and State Historian Rick Hendricks, along with Richard Melzer, Kathy Flynn, Porter Swentzell, and Dedie Snow. Current museum guides and Historical Downtown Walking Tour guides are welcome to attend the lectures for ongoing learning, as are museum staffers (supervisors willing).

“We have a really wide range of folks interested in volunteering this year,” Harris said. “Some are lifelong New Mexicans, and some have very recently relocated. There are retired attorneys, a physician, university faculty members, a public-relations professional, a corporate manager, business and public school administrators, teachers, federal government employees, and a computer programmer. It’s a diverse group of retirees.”

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From a Purr to a Roar: Lowriders Speak

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Chris Martinez in his lowrider. Photo by Don Usner.

Chris Martinez in his lowrider. Photo by Don Usner.

When Lowriders, Hoppers and Hot Rods: Car Culture of Northern New Mexico opens in our second-floor Herzstein Gallery on May 1, visitors will get a chance to hear the story of the lowrider lifestyle directly from the practitioners themselves. Photo Curator Daniel Kosharek enlisted the help of 19th– and 20th-Century Southwest Curator Meredith Davidson to interview a host of lowriders from Las Vegas, Chimayó, Española, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Davidson, who honed her oral-history chops while working for the 9-11 Memorial Museum in New York City, then edited down the results into a 45-minute video loop that will play on iPads placed throughout the exhibit.

“I think it’s important that the lowriders tell their own stories,” Kosharek said. “If I were to go to an exhibit like this somewhere, I would want to get inside the culture, not have the museum put a level of interpretation onto it.”

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The Generosity of Friends

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Artist Gustave Baumann created this autumn-toned color wheel in 1930.

Artist Gustave Baumann created this autumn-toned color wheel in 1930.

Not all of Santa’s presents end up underneath someone’s Christmas tree. Quite a few of them landed in our collections.

Generous donors surprised and delighted us with some remarkable year-end gifts. We’re still sorting through the record-keeping details, but here’s a peek at a few donations that will help us better tell the story of New Mexico.

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