Recent Acquisitions

The Millicent Rogers Museum is always working to build its collections. Thanks to the support of donors like you, we are continually adding new pieces that help tell the story of the arts and cultures of the Southwest.

From the museum’s founding in the 1950s, we have actively been seeking examples of Hispanic and Native American arts that best tell the stories of the makers and cultures of their communities. Paul Peralta-Ramos, the museum’s founder, actively used his own personal resources to buy great treasures that he then donated to the museum. We continue to build upon his legacy today through both the direct donation of items to our collection as well as the limited purchase of pieces to fill in gaps.

Shown here are some of the more recent additions to our holdings.

Do you have a treasured item that might fit into our collections? Contact our curator to discuss the matter. All donations to the Millicent Rogers Museum are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Collection of Taos Pueblo Painters gifted by Fran and Brad Taylor.

Millicent Rogers Museum sees largest donation in over two decades.

1. Apache Man’s Hat—Circa 1920-1930
Apache men wore hats like this when they came to trade with Taos Indians. The felt hat was commercially produced, probably in either California or Chicago, for sale among the Apache. It features the typical high crown and broad brim that the Apache so favored. This example is unique in that it was then hand-painted inside the brim and on the crown with brilliant geometric decorations. Why this was done is unknown, but it suggests that this hat was highly prized by the owner.

2. Bowl attributed to Nampeyo—circa 1910
This beautiful bowl was recently acquired by the museum to fill in a critical gap in our collections. What Maria Martinez was to the story of pottery making at San Ildefonso Pueblo, Nampeyo was to the heritage of Hopi pottery. Like Martinez, Nampeyo was asked to make copies of Indian pottery fragments that were being excavated by Smithsonian archaeologists. Her copies, and then her own interpretations, were of such high quality that Nampeyo was hired by the Fred Harvey Company to show and sell her wares at the El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon. The Museum’s collections, until this piece was acquired, were particularly strong in examples of work by Nampeyo’s children, grandchildren, and extended family. However, we had no examples of Nampeyo’s works. This pot was purchased by the museum using funds donated for that purpose. It has a provenance or family history that traces it from being purchased by the original owner from Nampeyo down to the present.

3. Pottery given by Alan Dolmatch
Alan Dolmatch gave this collection of southern Pueblo pottery to the museum in 2013. Mr. Dolmatch had acquired the collection during trips to the Southwest as well as through galleries along the East Coast. The collection is particularly important to the museum in that the pieces fill out gaps in our holding of contemporary pueblo pottery, particularly from the southern Pueblos.