Susan “Susie” Parks
During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), the United States, particularly citizens in the southwestern states, kept a close watch on events across the border. In 1912, the army established a military post near the small village of Columbus, New Mexico, to protect...
Dorothy McKibbin, “Gatekeeper of Los Alamos”
Dorothy McKibbin was the first person to greet newly arriving scientists, workers, and their families on their way to “The Hill,” the top-secret headquarters for the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. Hired by Robert Oppenheimer as a secretary in 1943, her office at 109...
Women of Shakespeare (Emma Marble Muir, Rita Wells Hill, Janaloo Hill Hough)
In southwestern New Mexico, two miles south of Lordsburg, a small vestige of a town called Shakespeare survives as one of the state’s well-known ghost towns. Were it not for three women, the town would have faded into oblivion both physically and in memory. Emma...
Emiteria “Matie” Martinez Robinson Viles
Around Las Vegas, New Mexico, Matie Viles is a well-known name because of the Viles Foundation, the scholarship fund she started in 1959 to help high school graduates pursue higher education. Widowed in 1950, she and her husband had owned and operated the Mountain...
Evelyn M. Vigil, Phan-Un-Pha-Kee (Young Doe)
In 1583, approximately two thousand people lived in the Pecos Pueblo, one of the most heavily populated pueblos. By 1838, disease and raids had drastically reduced the population. The last remaining seventeen Pecos residents packed up their belongings and relocated...
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...
Amelia Elizabeth White
Amelia Elizabeth White and her younger sister Martha arrived in Santa Fe in 1923, purchased land, and built a magnificent estate on Garcia Street, now home to the School for Advanced Research (SAR). El Delirio, or the Madness as it was called, quickly became a...
Cleofas Martinez Jaramillo
By the early 20th century, Spanish traditions hundreds of years old began to fade in northern New Mexico. Newly arrived artists and people whose families had lived the traditions for generations made concerted efforts to preserve traditions. Cleofas Martinez Jaramillo...