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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).
Christine Mather is a former curator of Spanish Colonial Art at the Museum of International Folk Art and former curator of collections at the New Mexico Museum of Art. She wrote the books Santa Fe Style, Native America, True West, and Santa Fe Houses, and curated That Multitudes May Share: Building the Museum of Art at the New Mexico Museum of Art and the Governor’s Gallery.
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In 1912, the year of New Mexico statehood, Santa Fe’s city fathers, including Edgar Lee Hewett, Sylvanus Morley, and Carlos Vierra, formed the city’s first Planning Board. With little money, but astounding drive, this prescient group launched itself into the unknowns of historic preservation, town planning, revival architecture, and commercial success.
