Juliana Gutiérrez y Chavez Hubbell
Juliana Gutiérrez y Chavez Hubbell was a member of two prominent early Spanish families in New Mexico and a descendant of Josefa Baca, a woman who was the original owner of the land comprising present-day Pajarito. In 1849, at the age of 16, she wed trader and army...
Zuni Olla Maidens
Zuni Olla Maidens are one of the most renowned dance groups in New Mexico. The members, all women, dance with fragile water jars, or ollas, balanced on the top of their heads. These women play an important role in Zuni, acting as cultural ambassadors for the community...
Women of the Santa Fe Trail
When women began crossing the plains of the United States on the Santa Fe Trail to the newly acquired U. S. Territory of New Mexico, they brought new sensibilities and priorities. Through activities as wide ranging as raising families, teaching music and literature,...
Women of Camino Real
Starting in 1598, when Juan de Oñate led the first colony from the Zacatecas area of what is today Mexico, thousands of women traveled over the Camino Real in both directions. In any season, whether over the Jornada del Muerto (the longer river route), or through the...
Women of Cochiti
By the late twentieth century, Pueblo figurative sculpture began to be valued as art, partly due to the popularity of storytellers, seated human figures with mouths wide open to represent the tradition of oral storytelling. Storytellers are now widely collected,...
Sarah “Sally” Rooke
There is no greater an act of self-sacrifice and bravery than giving up your own life to save others. This is what Sarah J. “Sally” Rooke did around midnight on August 27, 1908, in the northeastern New Mexican town of Folsom. In 1905, Sally Rooke moved to Folsom after...
Mary Ann Deming Crocker
Mary Ann Deming was born on November 26, 1827, the daughter of John Jay Deming, whose sawmill operation in Mishawaka, Illinois, had made him wealthy. Growing up, she attended a private seminary for girls in New York. Around 1850, she met Charles Crocker, who worked...
Maria Rosa Villapando
From the seventeenth century into the nineteenth century, raiding and trading human beings, especially women and children, occurred with regularity in New Mexico. Native Americans took and traded human captives among themselves as well as in the communities in...