El Palacio magazine is celebrating its 100th anniversary and the New Mexico State Library’s digital archive has the complete run on-line!
The oldest museum magazine in the country, El Palacio is the source of knowledge about the art, culture, and history in the Southwest, with emphasis on the exhibitions, research, and programs of the Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, New Mexico Museum of Art, New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors, New Mexico Historic Sites, and Office of Archaeological Studies.
The project was started in 2009 by Susanne Caro, State Documents Librarian at the time, in collaboration with El Palacio staff, with the goal of digitizing and publishing every issue by the magazine’s centennial anniversary. The first issue was published in November of 1913. The 100th anniversary issue is out now.
The digitization project had several bumps along the way. When Susan Caro left the State Library, Monica Villaire-Garcia from NMSL’s State Publications Program stepped in and made sure Phase 1 was accomplished: making the first 10 years available on-line by the State Centennial (January 6, 2012).
At that point it was unclear if the project would continue. Fortunately, the Museum Resources Division of the State’s Department of Cultural Affairs was able to provide funding to scan issues from 1967 through 2006, as well as contract with Denise Dixson in November of 2012. She and Monica worked diligently for an entire year to get every issue on-line and finalize this project in time for the magazine’s centennial.
New issues of the El Palacio magazine will continue to be added to the on-line archive they are published.
To find the El Palacio magazine on-line go to:
