Buried in the December 23, 1898, edition of the Albuquerque Morning Democrat between local tidbits of spring-cleaning and the ladies’ library committee meetings, a curious item stands out: the birth of basketball in the Territory of New Mexico. In bloomers and bows with the letters “UNM” sewn across their…
11 18 1887 “If ever there was a raging, blazing soul mounting to the skies it is that of Georgia O’Keeffe.” New Yorker Magazine, 1926 By Michael Ann Sullivan Georgia O’Keeffe was born on November 18, 1887, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, eight miles north of Madison. She was the…
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company employed registered nurses known as "Nurse Couriers," and assigned them to their passenger trains from the 1930s through the 1960s to attend to the medical needs of passengers. During their travels the nurses also assisted with certain administrative duties of the…
Restauranteur Fred Harvey's biggest challenge was not delivering fresh food to his far-flung outposts but finding reliable help, so he placed advertisements in the East and the Midwest for single "young women, 18 to 30 years of age, of good character, attractive and intelligent." These women became the famed…
By Katherine Sarah Massoth On the evening of 12 September 1846, Susan Shelby Magoffin lamented in her private diary, “ in this foreign land where there are so few of our countrymen, and so few manners and customs similar to ours, or in short anything to correspond with…
5 16 1894 by Michael Ann Sullivan Fabiola Cabeza de Baca was born 16 May 1894 in Las Vegas, New Mexico to Graciano Cabeza de Baca and Indalecia Delgado. The Cabeza de Bacas trace their ancestry back to Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca who explored New Mexico in the…
1907 Grandma was a tall woman, who would never hesitate to get on the floor to play with the glorious dollhouse she had at her house, or go out into any weather to push me and my sister in the backyard tire swing. As little girls, my grandma would…
4 22 1891 by Michael Ann Sullivan Laura Gilpin grew up in the West and always considered herself a Westerner. She said of herself, “I am definitely a westerner and I just have to be in the mountain country. It’s where I belong.” She was born on 22 April…
1 10 1888 First Lady of American Letters By Michael Ann Sullivan Erna Fergusson was born on 10 January 1888 to a prominent Albuquerque family. Her mother was Clara Mary Huning, the daughter of the successful merchant Franz Huning. Franz had emigrated to New Mexico from Germany in 1849….
New Mexico's Anglo Protestant women were late to organize influential women's clubs, which were not started until the 1890s. However, this movement left out large sectors of women in the state who were of Indian or Mexican American ancestry. The Catholic Church, openly opposed to women's suffrage in the…
