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For over a century, El Palacio has been a forum for voices exploring New Mexico’s art, archaeology, history, and landscape. Explore the writers, photographers, historians, and scientists whose perspectives have defined the magazine’s pages—past and present.
Arthur Sze is the current U.S. Poet Laureate. Sze is a poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of twelve books, including Into the Hush, Sight Lines, and others. Sze’s poems have been translated into fifteen languages, and he is the recipient of the National Book Award among many other honors. He lives in Santa Fe.
Deborah Jackson Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan Nation and Laguna Pueblo. Her memoir Whiskey Tender was a 2024 National Book Award Finalist and was longlisted for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Taffa serves as the director of the MFA in creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Cara Romero is an award-winning contemporary fine art photographer. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero’s expansive oeuvre has been informed by formal training in film, digital, fine art, and commercial photography. She maintains a studio in Santa Fe, regularly participates in Native American art fairs, and was featured in PBS’ Craft in America (2019).
Dr. Oliver Horn is the regional manager at Fort Stanton Historic Site and Lincoln Historic Site, part of the New Mexico Historic Sites division of New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. Prior to being hired, Horn and his wife, Dr. Robynne Mellor, worked as consultants with the state’s Historic Preservation Division and helped draft its ten-year preservation plan. Horn also worked on the team that developed the 950-page Fort Stanton Historic Site Cultural Landscape Report, which serves as a roadmap for the site’s preservation.
New Mexico Historic Sites hired Dr. Oliver Horn as the new regional site manager to oversee the operations of Fort Stanton and Lincoln Historic Sites. Recently, Olivers at down with Historic Sites’ historic preservation and interpretation specialist, Dr. C. L. Kieffer, for a conversation about their shared passion for history, preservation, and interpretation at Fort Stanton—the largest historic site in the state. C. L.
By Oliver Horn, PhD In May 1921, New Mexico Senator Holm O. Bursum introduced a bill to Congress that would incite a power struggle over politics and culture in New Mexico. Crafted behind closed doors and without any consultation with the Pueblo people, the legislation proposed allowing non-Pueblo people to claim reservation land if they could prove ten years of residency.
