Orlando Romero
A historian looks back—and ahead
Norah Levine
Orlando Romero has devoted his life to studying the history and culture of Santa Fe. His strongly held opinions, expressed with passion, are often provocative, rarely dull. He lives in Nambé, where years ago he built his own adobe home.
What led you to become a historian?
I was born in Santa Fe, grew up in Nambé, but spent my youth in Santa Fe and Las Trampas with my grandfather and his ancestors. If I am a historian, it is because of the osmosis of their stories. Magical stories about gypsies with dancing bears that I thought were mythical until I discovered WPA documents that verified their veracity. In Grandfather’s flour mill in Nambé I heard stories from the pueblos that were just as special. But it was actually working with New Mexico history that brought it all together.
Where did you do your formal study?
I received my undergraduate degree at the College of Santa Fe and my graduate degree from the University of Arizona. In 1976, I began running the Southwest Room at the New Mexico State Library. But it was during my last 12 years at the Fray Angélico Chavez History Library that I got to sink my teeth into untranslated documents from early New Mexico, Mexico, and Spain.
At the libraries, what questions were you asked most frequently by the public?
The most annoying question was “Where is the Jane Fonda Hotel?” The most frequent was “Where is the Square?” The actual historic questions dealt with architecture, culture, mythology, family history, and political corruption, as in the infamous “Santa Fe Ring.”
Now for some history questions of our own. What did the site look like back in 1610, when the city was founded?
Actually, we believe that Spanish settlers were in what is now Santa Fe by 1607, possibly earlier. As far as what it looked like, we know that by 1610 the farm fields of the villa had been planted, and two ditches had been dug to irrigate those fields. We also know that a large government-military compound containing arsenals, a jail, a chapel, governor’s residences, and offices had been built, along with four torreóns, or watchtowers, as part of a fortified villa. A book being published soon by Sunstone Press, offering essays by 19 scholars, should greatly add to our knowledge of early Santa Fe.
Why did the Pueblo Indians revolt against the Spanish 70 years later, in 1680?
For various reasons, among them religious intolerance and the banning of specific Indian religious rituals. Other reasons included the tribute required by the Spanish, drought, famine, Apache raids. The best source for understanding the revolt is Charles W. Hackett’s Revolt of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Otermín’s Attempted Reconquest, 1680-1682. Also, What Caused the Pueblo Revolt of 1680? edited by David J. Weber.
Why was the city considered strategic enough that Don Diego De Vargas was sent to recapture it in 1692?
Santa Fe was “retaken” because it was somewhat defensible against hostile nomadic tribes that attacked the pueblos as well. But also, Santa Fe at that time offered abundant water, fertile soil for farming, and timber for vigas and firewood. Like the English, Dutch, French, and Portuguese, the Spanish were not about to abandon their interests in the New World. Those interests were not just about territory but also about the conversion and “saving of souls.” It’s rarely mentioned, but the pueblos themselves sent an emissary to bring the Spanish back, because Popé, leader of the Pueblo Revolt, turned out to be a tyrant, and all hell had broken loose. Also, without Spanish arms the ancient enemies of the pueblos returned to the scene.
What three individuals, aside from De Vargas, influenced Santa Fe life the most from the 17th century to the present?
That’s a loaded question. It depends on who you ask. For me they would have to be Santa Fe’s first bishop, Jean-Baptiste Lamy. He was born in France and had very definite ideas on what Catholicism should be, and battled constantly with the native Hispano clergy. Second, Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearney, who commanded the American Army of occupation of 1846, when the city was still under Spanish rule. That brought a radical change to Santa Fe. One of our elementary schools is named after him. More recently, Debbie Jaramillo, who served as mayor from 1994 to 1998. She was our first female mayor. Even if you disagreed with some of her well-publicized rants, she brought necessary attention to the fact that the citizenry and its children were losing their city to unbridled development and tourism.
Which three events or trends have most affected the course of Santa Fe history?
Those would have to be the opening of the Camino Real, the ancient road that linked the city of Santa Fe to Mexico and its commerce; the Santa Fe Trail, which originated in St. Louis and opened up another route of commerce between Santa Fe and the United States; and the twentieth-century “discovery” of Santa Fe as a tourist destination.
What changes do you see occurring here in the next 20 years?
Most important will be strict enforcement of limits on development and water use. Great societies and cultures have disappeared because of lack of planning, and underestimating the limitations of man against nature. Even with the Buckman Project, the expensive water-diversion project named for its location on the Rio Grande, there just is not enough water in the Rio Grande to sustain Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
What do you think the city will be like on its 500th anniversary?
Without that enforcement of strict water laws, there may not be a 500th anniversary. But for now, this beautiful city is a jewel to be enjoyed and preserved for all of us.
Orlando Romero is the author of Nambé Year One and Adobe—Building and Living with Earth. A longtime columnist for the Santa Fe Reporter, he now writes a monthly column for the New Mexican.
