“El Portal” at the Palace of the Governors
Collectors Guide
Keeping tradition—and quality—alive on Santa Fe Plaza
Vendors under the Portal Palace of the Governors
Photo by T. Harmon Parkhurst
Courtesy Museum of New Mexico
Julian and Maria Martinez and family,
San Ildefonso Pueblo Under the Portal,
Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe
c1959 Courtesy Museum of New Mexico
Occupying the entire north side of the historic plaza, the Palace of the Governors has been a center of activity since Santa Fe's founding as New Mexico's second capital by Governor Pedro de Peralta in 1610.
The oldest continuously-occupied public building in the United States, the Palace has housed Spanish governors, a Pueblo Indian community, the territorial governments of the Mexican and American republics, a federal post office, the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, the School of American Research, the New Mexico Historical Society and, since 1909, the Museum of New Mexico (MNM).
Since its establishment, the MNM has worked to protect, preserve and promote traditional Southwest Native American arts and crafts. Museum policy reserves the portal, or front porch, of the Palace of the Governors for the use of authorized participants in the Native American Vendors Program to display and sell wares they have made.
Items offered for sale include pottery, metalwork, stone and shell jewelry, beadwork, sandpaintings, leatherwork, weaving, carving (both stone and wood), drums, drawings and paintings. Some vendors sell foodstuffs such as oven bread, pies and tamales.
A regularly-scheduled, outdoor public market, dedicated exclusively to regional Native American arts and crafts and located under the Palace portal, was the brainchild of Maria Chabot. Employed by the New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs (NMAIA), Ms. Chabot proposed the creation of Saturday Fairs, modeled on fiesta markets she had visited in old Mexico, to be held throughout the summer months. These weekly markets were intended to encourage the production of traditional arts and crafts and to educate the public about Southwest Native American cultures.
The first fair was held on July 11, 1936. Artists were invited and prizes awarded for outstanding work by the NMAIA. Judges were non-Indians because the Indian people were reluctant to assess the quality of one another's work. The NMAIA seasonal markets continued through 1939 and were a great success. They mark the beginning of what eventually became the daily, MNM-sponsored Native American Vendors Program.
At 63 years, the Native American Vendors Program is the oldest public program of the MNM. It is also the largest, most visited and most visible program. It has been featured in books and magazines, on a postage stamp and in countless snapshots taken by visitors from throughout the world. The Portal has always been there. Its longevity and familiarity obscure what an altogether unlikely undertaking it is.
Jointly administered by museum staff members and program participants, this educational program is a uniquely ambitious, uniquely successful cooperative venture of Native peoples and a state cultural institution. It provides a model for mainstream cultural institutions across the nation striving to find innovative ways to accurately represent and adequately serve our diverse citizenry.
There are more than 850 authorized participants, approximately 400 households, in the Native American Vendors Program. Vendors travel to the Portal from 47 communities throughout New Mexico and range from 18 to over 80 years of age. The majority live in the pueblos and on the reservations and are deeply conservative people with many civic and ceremonial obligations at home. The Portal as a workplace provides vendors with the scheduling flexibility to fulfill these obligations without jeopardizing their livelihoods.
