Staff favorites – El Palacio

Six vintage covers of Bob Damron’s address books from 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1975, and 1976 shown in a grid arrangement.

Cruising the Mother Road

I found my first taste of freedom crisscrossing cornfields shadowed by windmills in rural Indiana in a hand-me-down Oldsmobile. Burnt CDs from friends and lovers made my small-town life feel cinematic.

By Lazarus Letcher

A hillside forest of scorched, leafless trees stands beneath a layer of mist, showing signs of recent wildfire damage.

The Loss of the Commons: A Historic Context for the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire

In April 2022, the largest and most destructive wildfire in New Mexico history, known as the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, erupted in the Santa Fe National Forest.The wildfire originated from two U.S.

By Dr. Oliver Horn

18th-century map of North America showing territories, geographical features, and colonial claims, with a decorative cartouche in the upper right corner.

Reckoning with 1776

It is known today as New Mexico, a place where time is recognized as “immemorial.” Here, the footprints of people in motion, likely left 23,000 years ago, remain impressed upon the land.

By Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez

Historic photograph of an adobe village with several people standing or walking in an open central area, surrounded by flat-roofed buildings and fenced enclosures. [gen-ai]

Coyota

BY JOSÉ ANTONIO ESQUIBEL Pueblo Indians and Hispanos of New Mexico share common bonds forged over the course of more than four hundred years. During those centuries, there were more years of cooperation and co-existence, punctuated with episodes of conciliation, than years of conflict.

By José Antonio Esquibel and Shelley Thompson

Black-and-white photo of a soldier with a rifle standing guard over a large group of seated prisoners or detainees in an outdoor camp setting. [gen-ai]

Straight Back to Our Own Country

BY HAMPTON SIDES This story accompanies Esther G. Belin's poem, "The Petition(-ing, er) of Peace(-ful)(mak -ing, -er)." At the War Department, Kit Carson met with generals Phil Sheridan and William Sherman.

By Hampton Sides

Two women stand in front of a Georgia O’Keeffe painting displayed on a wall, smiling for a photo. [gen-ai]

An O’Keeffe Odyssey

BY KATE NELSON I don’t think the Museum of Art could have asked for or received a better birthday present,” director Mary Kershaw said after black curtains parted to reveal a Georgia O’Keeffe painting on the stage of Saint Francis Auditorium.

By Kate Nelson

Goats and sheep graze in Casa Grande's lush meadow.

The Secret Sanctuary

BY MICHAEL MILLER The New Mexico historic property known today as Los Luceros has supported consistent human occupation for about 800 years, according to the archaeological record. Today, that occupation metric is miniscule: the ranger’s lodgings and occasional travelers who bunk in the guest house overlooking a rambunctious stretch of the Rio Grande.

By Gene Peach and Michael Miller