El Palacio - Media - Santa Fe, New Mexico
City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Media
Telephone: (505) 476-5055
Address: 113 Lincoln Ave.
Description: El Palacio: The Museum of New Mexico Magazine is the oldest museum publication in the United States. What started out as a weekly pamphlet about the size of one’s hand is today published under the auspices of the Office of Cultural Affairs as a quarterly glossy showpiece for the Museum of New Mexico museum system: the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of International Folk Art, New Mexico Museum of Art—all in Santa Fe, six state monuments, and the Office of Archeological Studies, which collects and shares information about New Mexico’s prehistoric and historic sites.Taking its lead from the museums it represents, El Palacio (The Palace) covers New Mexico history, culture, art, and anthropology with lively articles accompanied by striking photos and graphics. It’s also a darned good substitute, both visually and textually, for those who can’t attend museum exhibits or events in person. Articles are posted online. The 2009 summer issue celebrating Santa Fe’s 400th birthday was particularly rich, with articles on 100 years of the Museum of New Mexico, its founder Edgar Lee Hewett, and a reprint of an article by the early-20th century artist and puppeteer Gustave Baumann.Handsome El Palacio practically jumps out at you on the newsstand. But it was originally a staid, black-and-white scholarly journal read almost exclusively by museum members and a few hundred academics and professionals. After suspending publication for about eight months, the magazine re-appeared in the spring of 1991 with a cleaner, slightly more colorful format. By the very next issue—the first in its history to incorporate outside advertising—El Palacio had evolved into a full-color magazine on the art and culture, history, and lore of the Southwest, winning an honorary mention for design from the American Association of Museums (AAM). Since that time the magazine has once again narrowed its focus to New Mexico rather than the entire southwestern region, garnering a 1995 AAM honorary mention in the process.El Palacio publishes quarterly with an average run of 10,000 issues. Subscriptions are free for the Museum of New Mexico’s approximately 6,100 members.