Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and situated at the nexus of European, Latin American, American and Native American history, the Museum of New Mexico is a repository for a vast selection of art, design, and material culture from around the world. Collection highlights include:

• The world's largest collection of international folk art, featuring the personal collections of Alexander Girard, Florence Dibell Bartlett and Lloyd Cotsen
• A world renowned ethnographic textile and dress collection of over 30,000 pieces representing 100 nations and 6 continents
• A major collection of European and Spanish furniture
• Over 10,000 pieces of Native American textiles, pottery, and basketry
• A significant representation of Spanish colonial silver, jewelry and majolica
• A photo archive featuring 1,000,000 images dating from 1850 to present, covering the history of New Mexico and the expansion of the West

Santa Fe's Cultural Terroir

Unique among American places, Santa Fe has long been a magnet for a rare mix of cultures and styles. Interwoven in its design traditions and dwellings are influences of European and Latin American colonists, a large and diverse Native American population, rustic frontiersmen and East Coast transplants who brought with them European classicism and 19th century Americana. Over 400 years, Santa Fe’s aesthetic has evolved into a comfortable juxtaposition of old and new – modern and traditional – tribal and tailored. 

Home to over 19 Indian Pueblos, the region has enduring Native American cultural and craft traditions. Moreover, as a colony of Spain and Mexico for more than 225 years, the city was the northernmost stop on the 1500-mile colonial Camino Real trade route that delivered Asian and European goods brought by the Spanish to Mexico.In 1822, the city became the terminus of the famed Santa Fe Trail, carrying American-made products to the region. The 1850 designation of New Mexico as a U.S. Territory set the stage for the 1879 arrival of the railroad, bringing more eastern US residents and their American wares. In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state. These long-lived European and Latin American influences, combined with those of Native American art and culture shaped Santa Fe into a truly unique city know as “the city different.”