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John K. Hillers, a German immigrant, became one of the greatest photographers of the American West. After serving in the Civil War he was hired as a general worker for the second Powell Expedition of the Grand Canyon in 1872. When the two photographers on the expedition left, he was made chief photographer. Armed with only the rudiments of photography, he quickly excelled in the role and won the deep friendship of Powell.
Categories: Framework
Wouldn’t New Mexico Historic Sites always want tantalizing images published to attract visitors? Not necessarily. Coronado Historic Site walks a fine line, because the treasures they hold reach to the very heart of the religious beliefs of the first inhabitants of our state and their current descendants. What faith has no mysteries? And what mystery can be captured in a photograph?
Categories: Visual art
BY MATTHEW J. BARBOUR The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was a pivotal event in New Mexico history. Under the guidance of a religious leader, Popay, Pueblo peoples of the Northern Rio Grande united and with their Apache and Ute allies drove out the Spanish. The center of this conflict focused on the siege of Santa Fe, which lasted for about eight days between August 13 and August 21.
Categories: New Mexican cultures, New Mexican history, Southwestern history
BY KATHLEEN L. HOWARD On display in the newly expanded Fred Harvey exhibit in the New Mexico History Museum sits a battered black Santa Clara olla. Crowned with a piecrust rim and graced with an indented base that once sat on top of a Tewa-speaking maiden’s head, the pot has numerous dings and dents from years of use and abuse.
Categories: Uncategorized
BY ANNE VALLEY-FOX In the Year of Our Lord 1528, Cabeza de Vaca and three soldiers among them Estevan the Moorish slave were shipwrecked off the coast of Texas and saved then enslaved by natives. (more…)
Categories: Poetry
BY CYNTHIA BAUGHMAN New Mexico’s historic sites take center stage in this issue. Exciting things are happening at our historic sites, and we encourage our readers to explore history where it happened and visit the sites they’ve never ventured to and revisit the ones they haven’t seen for a while. (more…)
Categories: Editor's Letter
BY KATE NELSON After dealing in antiquarian books and ephemera in Santa Fe for nearly forty years, Jean Moss had seen her share of the handmade holiday cards artist Gustave Baumann once made for a few hundred of his closest friends. So when the Ann Baumann Trust asked her to evaluate a boxful of such materials in 2013, she figured she was in for a trip down memory lane.
Categories: Featured, Visual art
BY SCOTT SMITH Many visitors to the Southwest are impressed by the number of ancient ruins scattered everywhere across the landscape. The names of these ruins — Aztec, Chaco, Gran Quivira, Pecos, Pottery Mound — have become part of Southwestern lore. (more…)
Categories: Featured
BY MATTHEW F. SCHMADER On February 22, 1540, a large group assembled in a town square near the west coast of Mexico and prepared for their fateful journey northward. The place was Compostela, the provincial capital of Nueva Galicia (near present-day Tepic in the Mexican state of Nayarit). That day was marked by an expeditionary muster roll, or alarde, presented to the viceroy of all Nueva España, Antonio de Mendoza.
Categories: Featured
BY FREDERICK TURNER “So,” an editor friend was saying to us, “what’s new about Billy the Kid?” Photographer Jack Parsons and I were at lunch with her, and the question was certainly a natural one: (more…)
Categories: Featured
![Black and white photo of ancient stone ruins situated on a hillside, surrounded by sparse trees and rocky terrain. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/016523-400x225.jpg)