By Jessica R. Metcalfe While flipping through Native Peoples magazine one day in 2003, I came across a photo spread of contemporary Native high fashion. It intrigued me how the designers incorporated elements from their cultures’ traditional art forms into high fashion. Who were these designers, how did they…
First Lady Susan Wallace, storyteller and writer, tells of a winters' day when she took a walk and discovered hundreds of years of New Mexico's history–neglected in a shed. Here, in her own words, she tells of her discovery: North of El Palacio, is a waste spot of earth,…
Riot at the Penitentiary Photo “Burnt out prison cell.” Barbaraellen Koch (c) The New Mexican, The Attorney General Photograph Collection, Image #34041. Courtesy New Mexico State Records Center and Archives.
by Suzanne Stamatov In the early morning hours on Saturday, 2 February 1980, inmates at the Penitentiary of New Mexico near Santa Fe overwhelmed four correctional officers during a routine inspection in one of the dormitories. These inmates immediately took the officers hostage and then ran to another dormitory…
First grown in Mexico about 5,000 years ago, corn soon became the most important food crop in Central and North America. Throughout the region, Native Americans, Maya, Aztecs, and others worshiped corn deities and developed a variety of stories about the origin, planting, growing and harvesting of corn (also…
My name is Elizabeth Anne Reese, or Yunpovi, which is Tewa for Willow Flower. I am tribally enrolled at Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico. I have grown up aware of many different expectations on me as a Pueblo woman, as a daughter, cousin, granddaughter, future wife and mother. But as…
“Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.” –Major Howard Conner, 4th Marine Division Association Reunion, Chicago 1969 By Suzanne Stamatov When armies and marines engage in combat, they need a communications system to remain in contact with their fellow troops and their…
Vivian Vance Photograph “Ethel Mertz” as Vivian Vance, n.d.Courtesy New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. 2206
By Rick Hendricks Francisco Antonio Marín del Valle became governor of the province of New Mexico in 1754 and remained in office until 1760. Before departing México City to take up the governorship, Marín del Valle executed a series of documents, one of which was an obligation to repay…
1 By Robert Torrez New Mexico's history is full of marvelous stories about ordinary people who happen to end up in the historical record when they get caught up in extraordinary circumstances. As we leaf through the stories of such individuals, one often wonders how much of what has…
