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,...
Three Fates
Three extraordinary women contributed to the unique artistic culture of Taos in the 20th Century. Sometimes called “The Three Fates,” they had a long, passionate, and often contentious relationship with each other. Mabel Dodge Luhan created a haven for artists,...
Mary Coon Walters
Originally from Michigan, Mary Coon was working for a prosecuting attorney in Escanaba in the upper peninsula of Michigan when the government offered free training for pilots. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Service Pilots (WASPS) just before her 21st birthday and...
St. Francis Women’s Club
The San Francisco de Assisi Church at Nambe Pueblo has been rebuilt several times since the Spanish brought Catholicism to the area in the 1600s. The current structure was built largely through the efforts of the St. Francis Women’s Club, which organized annual...
Sisters of Charity
The first Sisters of Charity arrived in New Mexico Territory in 1865 from Cincinnati at the request of Bishop Lamy with the mission of serving all people regardless of race, religion or ability to pay. Hundreds of sisters followed. They established some of the most...
Rose Powers White
Rose Powers White devoted her life to teaching and sharing. A teacher until the birth of her first child, she became deeply interested in New Mexico’s early history through her family, recording oral histories and researching early cowboys and settlers. An avid...