The origins of the Southwest’s most storied cultural institutions are often as interesting as the objects preserved within. Take the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos for instance. Before it became one of the must-see cultural institutions of the Southwest, located on the mesa just north of Taos, its namesake was considered a very well known fashionista, an heiress to the Standard Oil fortune through her grandfather, the legendary tycoon Henry Huddleston Rogers.
But, Millicent Rogers was known more for her iconoclastic character. While often seen in newspaper society pages and magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue or on the arm of movie stars and celebrities such as Clark Gable, Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and various members of royalty, she flaunted convention by taking three husbands, the first at age 21. In her lifetime, she became mother to Peter Salm, and Paul and Arturo Peralta-Ramos Jr.
She was also a lover of great art and even made some of her own. This interest became more focused when she began exploring the American Southwest and fell in love with Native American art, which she began collecting from her small adobe home in Taos called “Turtle Walk,” where she settled in 1947.
Although quite active in her day, her health suffered greatly as the result of having contracted rheumatic fever as a child. She died Jan. 1, 1953 at the age of 50.
In tribute to his mother, her son Paul Peralta-Ramos founded the Millicent Rogers Museum in 1956, using her collection of Southwest art as the basis. First located on Ledoux Street, the museum moved to the Manby-Thorne House where it operated until 1968 when the home of Claude J.K. and Elizabeth Anderson was donated. It was in this location with its sweeping panorama of the Taos Valley that the museum blossomed, especially after its renovation and expansion in the mid-1980s by famed architect Nathaniel A. Owings.
The museum has since grown by leaps and bounds. Although founded as a way to show Rogers’ personal collection, it has become a professionally operated cultural institution dedicated to the preservation, exhibition and study of Southwestern art and historic objects. Paul Peralta-Ramos was instrumental in providing important stewardship for the museum’s early years, and through his friendship with Maria Martinez, the famed potter of San Ildefonso Pueblo, “ultimately led to her family donating what is the largest publicly held collection of Martinez material in the world. This collection encompasses not only Martinez’s professional career as a potter but also includes numerous items relating to her private life, including clothing, jewelry, and papers. That collection is now the centerpiece of a major permanent exhibition on her life and work,” a museum statement reads.
In addition to Native American art, the museum also focuses on works by Hispano and Non-Native artists whose contributions have been important to the evolution of art and culture in the Southwest.
Perhaps one its greatest contributions has been the museum’s affiliation with nearby Taos Pueblo, whose artists are a regular part of the museum’s exhibition cycles. Its annual Taos Pueblo Artists Winter Showcase has proven to be a much needed resource for Native American artists, especially during the coronavirus pandemic which the village has been closed to visitors.
The museum is located at 1504 Millicent Rogers Road, four miles north of Taos off U.S 64 in El Prado. For more information, call (575) 758-2462 or visit millicentrogers.org.
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