The New Mexico History Museum is proud to present “Miguel Trujillo and the Pursuit of Native Voting Rights”. The special exhibition honors the 75th anniversary of the landmark court case, Trujillo v Garley, which granted Native New Mexicans the right to vote in US elections. The story is told through an interactive voting booth and shares the fascinating story of Native American suffrage. The ruling in 1948 removed legal and constitutional barriers to voting for Native Americans residing on tribal lands in New Mexico. At the center of this effort is Miguel ...
The New Mexico History Museum, with support from New Mexico Magazine, proudly presents EnchantOrama! New Mexico Magazine Celebrates 100. Learn why and how the publication began, view a selection from over one thousand magazine covers, and enjoy seeing over two hundred photographs published in the magazine since 1923. Visitors will enjoy a mid-century office space—replete with a rotary telephone—as they peruse previous editions of the magazine or type up an article on a 1970s typewriter. Join us for a free public opening reception in our main lobby, hosted ...
As part of our Highlights from the Collection: The Larry and Alyce Frank Collection of Santos (saints), in the Palace of the Governors features sixty retablos (devotional paintings on panel) and bultos (carved religious sculptures) from 1810-1880. They were acquired by the museum in 2007, and previously on display as part of the Tesoros de Devocion/Treasures of Devotion exhibition from 2008-2018. Bultos and retablos were created for villages and Pueblo churches, home altars, and the private devotional chapter houses of lay brotherhoods, known commonly to outsiders as ...
Currently on display in the New Mexico History Museum’s Palace of the Governors, is an unusual jewelry collection from the 1940s and 1950s that exemplifies a beneficial economic relationship between Diné (Navajo) silversmith, David Taliman (1901–1967), and Jewish merchant, William C. Ilfeld (1905–1979). William C. Ilfeld was the grandson of the Jewish pioneer Charles Ilfeld, who emigrated from Germany in 1865. William managed the Native American jewelry department at the family’s department store in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Taliman worked ...
Reflecting current archaeological and historical perspectives, Palace Seen and Unseen draws from historic documents, photographs, and archaeological and architectural studies produced by its former residents, visitors, stewards, and scholars. When the dynamic expertise of historians and archaeologists converges, a richer story and better understanding emerges. It is this integrative approach to what is seen and unseen that guides the themes explored by this exhibition. On long term view.
Working on the Railroad pays tribute to the people who moved the rail industry throughout New Mexico. Using nearly forty images from the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives and the Library of Congress, this exhibition offers an in-depth look at the men and women who did everything from laying track to dispatching the engines. Wrenches, lanterns, tie dating nails and other objects from the New Mexico History Museum collections will be displayed to give additional life to the photos; many hands used those tools to ensure that each engine ran smoothly and ...
This exhibition features 23 original graphic history art works by Santa Fe-based artist Turner Avery Mark-Jacobs. This display, ’The Massacre of Don Pedro Villasur,’ narrates the history of an ill-fated Spanish colonial military expedition which set out from Santa Fe in 1720. This depicted story shares the exhibit room with the History Museum’s Segesser I and II Hide paintings located in the Telling New Mexico gallery.
The First World War exhibition investigates the contributions of New Mexicans to the war, through letters, photographs and objects.
“New Mexico played an important role in both world wars,” said Andrew Wulf, then-Director of the New Mexico History Museum. “We are proud to be able to recognize and remember that contribution and add The First World War as a permanent exhibition, to underscore the sacrifice and heartfelt letters home from these brave soldiers.”
Setting the Standard: The Fred Harvey Company and Its Legacy, in the New Mexico History Museum’s main exhibit, Telling New Mexico: Stories from Then and Now, helps tell those stories. Setting the Standard uses artifacts from the museum’s collection, images from the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives and loans from other museums and private collectors. Focusing on the rise of the Fred Harvey Company as a family business and events that transpired specifically in the Land of Enchantment, the tale will leave visitors with an understanding of how the ...
Telling New Mexico: Stories from Then and Now sweeps across more than 500 years of history—from the state’s earliest inhabitants to the residents of today. These stories breathe life into the people who made the American West: Native Americans, Spanish colonists, Mexican citizens, Santa Fe Trail riders, fur trappers, outlaws, Buffalo Soldiers, railroad workers, miners, scientists, hippies, artists, and photographers.
Though the source of the Segesser Hide Paintings is obscure, their significance cannot be clearer: the hides are rare examples of the earliest known depictions of colonial life in the United States. Moreover, the tanned and smoothed hides carry the very faces of men whose descendants live in New Mexico today.
