Furnishing the Santa Fe Style - El Palacio Magazine

SAM HUDELSON
Hudelson’s photograph (ca. 1925–30) of his workshop in the basement of the New Mexico Museum of Art showing the
armchairs and table made for the Women’s Board Room in the foreground. The premises were frequently visited by artists and
admirers, and, on his retirement, Hudelson was credited with “inaugurating the local renaissance of hand-made and handdecorated
furniture.” Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), Neg. No. 091790.
Fe in 1912 when he worked on Jesse Nusbaum’s project of
remodeling the Palace of the Governors, doing cabinetwork
and continuing improvements, as well as the ornamental
woodwork for the new Art Gallery. Hobbs credited Hudelson
“with inaugurating the local renaissance of hand-made and
hand-decorated furniture.” Now I knew that I was on the
right track!
Hobbs’s claim about the significance of Hudelson’s contributions
to furniture design is all the more amazing considering
that Hudelson’s primary responsibility was maintenance,
repair, and additions to the Museum of New Mexico campus
(both the Palace of the Governors and the Art Museum). He
also did field work every year with SAR working at Gran
Quivira and Quarai, Jemez, Puyé, Chaco, Pecos, and Acoma.
Hobbs quoted an official statement from Hewett (notoriously
loath to credit his staff) saying, with uncharacteristic enthusiasm,
“What this capable workman (artist as well as master
mechanic) accomplished assisted by a few unskilled laborers,
was beyond praise…. His methods have influenced the work
of about all of us who have had to do with the preservation of
ruins during this generation.”
Furniture for Private Clients
Hudelson himself was not a man of words, or at least not of
written words. The only records that he made relating to the
Museum of Art that I could find were his photographs, now
in the Photo Archives of the Palace of the Governors. A key
image had been published by Lonn Taylor and Dessa Bokides
in their invaluable book, New Mexican Furniture, 1600–1940. 3
It showed furniture in the Art Museum basement with two
of the armchairs for the Women’s Board Room in front of the
room’s long table, which was up on saw horses. No trace has
been found of the foreground bench or the second table in the
background. Could these have been made for a private client?
Hewett was notoriously stingy when it came to paying his
staff, who worked for both the museum and SAR. Most were
considered “part time” employees and expected to supplement
their salaries with outside work.
It was just such extracurricular work that forced Hudelson
to put words in writing. I was led to the SAR library archive
by Kathy Fiero, who is writing a biography of Nusbaum
and shared with me an unpublished manuscript by Lonn
Taylor on the construction and furnishing of the Martha and
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