Tag Archives: photography

Marking NM’s Historic Women: Laura Gilpin

Posted on by
Photo Credit: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Photographer Laura Gilpin, New Mexico
Date: 1965?
Negative Number: 050822

Laura Gilpin (1891–1979)

An outstanding photographer of the twentieth century, Laura Gilpin is best known for capturing southwestern cultures and landscapes on film. When her car ran out of gas on the Navajo reservation in 1930, she began photographing the local people. She published four books culminating with The Enduring Navaho in 1968. A master of the art of platinum printing, her photographs are found in museums around the world.

Roadside Marker Location: Santa Fe County, I-25, Mile Marker 270

You can view a county by county list of the Historic Women Mile Markers in this pdf.

You can view a map of the Historic Women Mile Markers at www.nmhistoricwomen.org

March is Women’s History Month. During this month we’ll be highlighting some of the women featured on New Mexico’s Historic Women Roadside Markers. Text provided by our colleagues at New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

1st Weds Lecture – Royal A. Prentice: Pioneering Archaeologist in Eastern New Mexico

Posted on by
Photographer and former Rough Rider, Royal A. Prentice, 1950? 
Neg. 006017. Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, New Mexico History Museum
Photographer and former Rough Rider, Royal A. Prentice was also an early volunteer who contributed valuable archeological information to the Museum of New Mexico.

The live presentation can be seen on YouTube and via Zoom.

Richard Ford, Allison Colborne, and Gary Hein have undertaken a study of Royal A. Prentice,  an early  volunteer who contributed valuable archaeological information to the Museum of New Mexico in the first three decades of the 20th century.  Although he published several useful research papers during those years in El Palacio, the quarterly magazine of the Museum of New Mexico, Prentice remains generally unknown today. The presentation will provide an overview of his life focusing on his archaeological research, stressing that the value of this work has earned him a well-deserved place in the history of New Mexico archaeology.  

Our speakers for this event are:

Richard I. Ford
 Arthur F. Thurnau, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Botany, 
 University of Michigan
Research Associate, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture 

Allison Colborne
Librarian, Laboratory of Anthropology, 
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Gary Hein
 Volunteer, Office of Archaeological Studies and Rock Art 
Rock Art Council Member, Archaeological Society of New Mexico

This is the latest in the Friends of History monthly lecture series and is presented in collaboration with the Friends of Archaeology.


Several of Royal A. Prentice’s photographs are currently on exhibit in our Working on the Railroad Exhibition which remains open until October of 2021.

You can also visit the exhibition from home via the Virtual Version .

You can view all of Prentice’s photographs in our digital collections portal.


Friends of History is a volunteer support group for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its mission is to raise funds and public awareness for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs. Friends of History fulfills its mission by offering high quality public history programs, including the First Wednesday Lecture Series. For more information, or to join the Friends of History, go to friendsofhistorynm.org