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...
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...
Yetta Kohn
Foreign-born, Jewish, and a single mother, Yetta Kohn succeeded on the frontier at a time when life was perilous, becoming matriarch, rancher, and entrepreneur over the course of her lifetime and establishing a foundation for her family’s ongoing success and security....
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,...
Virginia T. Romero
Virginia T. Romero was a prominent Taos potter who helped to keep micaceous pottery alive in her community. Micaceous pots are excellent for cooking and are renowned for their ability to retain heat. In recent years, collectors and museums have recognized these pots...
Virginia Duran
Three Picuris women, Maria Ramita Simbola Martinez, Cora Durand, and Virginia Duran, helped to preserve the micaceous pottery tradition that remains important in Picuris and other nearby pueblos today. Picuris is a Tiwa speaking Pueblo located fifty-seven miles north...