Marking NM’s Historic Women: Myrtle Attaway Farquhar

Photo Credit: https://econtent.unm.edu/digital/collection/Marmon/id/64/rec/2

Myrtle Attaway Farquhar (1900-1972)

Having arrived earlier from Texas with a Master’s degree and a dedication to teaching African-American students, Myrtle Attaway Farquhar accepted a position in 1943 at the segregated Booker T. Washington School in Hobbs. She inspired students to pursue higher education, and she and her husband helped finance 10 students through college. Myrtle was inducted into the Southeastern New Mexico Education Association Hall of Fame in 1969.

Roadside Marker Location: Lea County, Hobbs, NM Highway 18/ North Lovington Highway

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: Eva Scott Fenyes, Leonara Scott Muse Curtin, Leonara Curtin Paloheimo

Photo Credit: https://womensinternationalstudycenter.org/acequia-madre-house/

Three Wise Women: Eva Scott Fenyes (1849–1930), Leonora Scott Muse Curtin (1879–1972), Leonora Curtin Paloheimo (1903–1999)

(SIDE 1) Three generations of one family worked more than 100 years to preserve the cultural heritage of New Mexico. Eva Fenyes created an artistic and photographic record of missions and adobe buildings, and preserved Spanish Colonial and Native American crafts. Leonora S. M. Curtin wrote Healing Herbs of the Upper Rio Grande, which documented the ethnobotany of the region and the plants used by traditional healers. (SIDE 2) Leonora Curtin Paloheimo worked to preserve New Mexico’s varied cultures. She researched Native American languages for the Smithsonian. During the Depression, she founded The Native Market as an outlet for Spanish American artisans who handcrafted traditional furniture and household items. She and her Finnish husband, George Paloheimo, established New Mexico’s first living history museum, El Rancho de las Golondrinas, in 1972.

Roadside Marker Location: Santa Fe County, US I-25, Mile Marker 270

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: Harriet Belle Amsden Sammons

Photo Credit: https://econtent.unm.edu/digital/collection/farmington/id/452/rec/2

Harriet Belle Amsden Sammons

Harriet Belle Amsden Sammons was the first female bank president in New Mexico, operating the First National Bank in Farmington from 1922 until 1951. She began working at the bank in 1912 and proved to be a humane and astute financial manager. During the Depression she bought out the San Juan National Bank, keeping it solvent and approving loans. She supported the newly formed United Indian Traders Association and kept many Farmington citizens out of bankruptcy.

Roadside Marker Location: San Juan County, Farmington, NM Highway 516, Mile Marker 1.2

Roadside Marker Location: Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, 1st St and Gold Ave

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

https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6x10n1v

Marking NM’s Historic Women: Ida O. Jackson

Photo Credit: http://www.clovis-schools.org/lincolnjackson/history_lincoln-jackson.html

Ida O. Jackson, 1890-1960, Educator

Clovis schools were segregated when Ida O. Jackson arrived from Texas in 1926 to teach African-American youth. Starting with two students in Bethlehem Baptist Church, she encouraged early education and by 1935 taught 35 students in a one-room schoolhouse. Named the Lincoln-Jackson School to honor her and the nation’s sixteenth president, school enrollment topped 100 by the 1940s. Ida also taught Sunday school, opened her home to those needing housing, and helped launch the Federated Progressive Club for black women working to improve the community.

Roadside Marker Location: Curry County, Clovis, Intersection of US 60/84 and Beta Street, SE

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: Agueda S. Martinez

Agueda S. Martinez (1898–2000)

Agueda is the matriarch of Hispanic weaving in New Mexico. From a very young age, she was known for her complex designs and natural dyes. She was the subject of the Academy Award-nominated documentary film, “Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country.” Her weaving is carried on by fifty-two direct descendants and can be seen today in many museums, including the Smithsonian.

Roadside Marker Location: Rio Arriba County, US Hwy 84, Mile Marker 203

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: María Gutiérrez Spencer

Photo Credit: https://www.nmhistoricwomen.org/location/maria-gutierrez-spencer/

María Gutiérrez Spencer (1919-1992) “Advocate for Social Justice”

Punished for not speaking English in school, María Gutiérrez Spencer devoted her life to validating the Indo-Hispano experience. A graduate of University of California, Berkeley and New Mexico State University, she pioneered bilingual and bicultural education in New Mexico, founding BOLD: Bicultural Orientation and Language Development in Silver City. Maria battled cancer for 50 years, but traveled worldwide to train teachers. She was honored by the Wonder Woman Foundation with Rosa Parks in 1981.

Roadside Marker Location: Doña Ana County, Las Cruces, NM Highway 138

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: Carlotta Thompkins Thurmond

Carlotta Thompkins Thurmond “Lottie Deno” (1844-1934)

Immortalized in literature and film, Kentucky native Carlotta Thurmond was the inspiration for Miss Kitty on television’s “Gunsmoke.” Having toured Europe’s best gambling houses as a child with her father, in Texas she called herself “Lottie Deno,” a play on “lotta dinero.” Fellow gamblers said she had ice water in her veins, yet when she moved to Kingston, New Mexico, she left many belongings for the needy. She gave up gambling upon moving in 1882 from Silver City to Deming where she co-founded St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Roadside Marker Location: Luna County, US Hwy 180/62, Mile Marker 144.7

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: Dr. Meta L. Christy

Photo Credit: https://www.nmhistoricwomen.org/location/meta-l-christy/

Dr. Meta L. Christy (1895–1968)

Meta L. Christy, DO, is recognized by the American Osteopathic Association as the first black osteopath. Dr. Christy graduated in 1921 from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as its first black graduate. The College gives an annual award in her name. She established her lifelong private practice with quiet dignity when there were no women physicians or osteopaths in local hospitals and few blacks in Las Vegas.

Roadside Marker Location: San Miguel County, Las Vegas, 727 Grand Avenue

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: St. Francis Women’s Club

Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
San Francisco de Asis church, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico
Photographer: Edward Kemp
Date: 1920 – 1930?
Negative Number HP.2014.45.15

The St. Francis Women’s Club was instrumental in raising funds to rebuild San Francisco de Asís Church, which had been condemned and demolished in about 1960. Their main fundraiser was the annual Fourth of July ceremonial, featuring dances of Nambé and participating Pueblos. By 1974, the group raised enough money to rebuild the church, and, in the process, helped to renew cultural traditions at Nambé.

Roadside Marker Location: Pueblo of Nambé; Santa Fe County, NM Hwy 4

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: Kewa Women’s Co-op

Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Santo Domingo Indian Trading Post, Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico
Creator: New Mexico Department of Tourism
Date: 1954?
Negative Number 059349

Kewa Women’s Co-op, Santo Domingo Pueblo

According to oral and recorded history, the Santo Domingo people have always made and traded jewelry. From prehistoric times heishi, drilled and ground shell beads, have been strung into necklaces. Generations of Santo Domingo women have passed down this art. Recent descendants have formed the Kewa Women’s Co-op to retain heishi and other traditions including pottery, embroidery, weaving, and Pueblo foods.

Roadside Marker Location: Pueblo of Santo Domingo; Sandoval County, US Hwy 22

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