Sallie Chisum Robert “First Lady of Artesia”
Sallie Chisum Robert, who came to be known as the “First Lady of Artesia,” was 19 when she arrived from Texas at her Uncle John Chisum’s Jinglebob Land and Livestock Company ranch south of Roswell. Her ranching skills rivaled those of the cowboys she joined driving...
Myra Ellen Jenkins
Myra Ellen Jenkins was born on September 26, 1916, in Elizabeth, Colorado, to Lewis Harlan Jenkins and Minnie (Ackroyd) Jenkins. Growing up in the Black Forest region, southeast of Denver and northeast of Colorado Springs, she was part of a family of homesteaders. She...
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...
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...Florinda Naranjo Ortiz
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, traveling circus acts and vaudeville-style road shows called revistas brought fun and entertainment to families throughout New Mexico, especially rural areas. Many were owned and operated by families with roots in...
Cleofas Martínez 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 Martínez 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...
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,...