HISTORIC SANTA FE FOUNDATION WINS THE PABLITA VELARDE AWARD

This spring, Historic Santa Fe Foundation was awarded Historical Society of New Mexico’s Pablita Velarde Award for our activity book Santa Fe’s El Zaguan: A Fun Activity and Coloring Book on a Historic Home and Garden. Named after artist Pablita Velarde, the award is for an “outstanding children’s publication related to New Mexico or Southwest borderlands history.” (Historical Society of New Mexico)

The activity booklet shares El Zagáun’s history, and the cultural practices of the Santa Fe area through fun paper activities and games. The booklet includes sections and conversation starters designed to help children and their families discuss how the history and environment shape identity and sense of place. HSNM said of the book, “Readers enjoyed the well-thought-out presentation of the book and felt it was an important contribution to New Mexico’s cultural history and overview of its built environment that could be enjoyed by children and adults alike,” and that the book “could be used for teaching purposes in and out of the classroom and that its presentation could be well adapted to other locales around the state.”

Historic Santa Fe acknowledges the many hands that brought the booklet to life. Santa Fe’s El Zaguan: A Fun Activity and Coloring Book on a Historic Home and Garden would not have been made without the following:


• Illustration by David Alexander Hubbard Sloan
• Written by Robynne Mellor, PhD, Sunmount Consulting
• With additional text and building illustrations by Louann Jordan from Santa Fe Foundation’s earlier publication, We’re So Lucky to Live in Santa Fe
• Additional Contributions by Audra Bellmore, PhD, Giulia Caporuscio, Melanie McWhorter and Jacob Sisneros
• Spanish Translations by Alex Streeper
• Designed by Bram Meehan
• Project Management by Hanna Churchwell

HSFF is very grateful and proud to be able to accept this award from the Historical Society of New Mexico at the 2025 New Mexico-Arizona History Conference. The conference will be held on September 25-27 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at the Las Cruces Convention Center. Registration opened June 1. Program information will be available mid-July. More information on HSNM’s website.