Hub of History
Shop is Ambassador to the Past To survey the vast book collection at the Spiegelberg Shop at the New Mexico History Museum is to be swept away to far-flung places in the state’s history.
Shop Talk with Vince Gioielli
Spiegelberg Shop Manager I’ve been here since the museum opened in 2009. Before that, I used to float around the other shops. Fourteen, 17 years. I don’t know, I exaggerate. We have incredible books on the history of New Mexico. A lot of people come in here who are doing research, and we have the archives in the same building. It’s a great connection. There are books here that will always sell, no matter what. Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog by John Pen La Farge, Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge. Route 66 books, books on Fred Harvey. People come in for jewelry by two famous local Hispanic silversmiths. The museum’s relationship with these artists goes back years. We have Lawrence Baca, with his famous Baca beads and bishop’s hook pendants made of oxidized silver. Then there’s Ralph Sena. Here’s a Sena shell necklace with a Rosarita gold slag. There’s quartz in there. People know to come back. There are some real treasures here.
14
J. Robert Oppenheimer’s haunted face stares out from one corner. Across from him, one of the Wicked Women of New Mexico pulls up her skirt to reveal a petticoat. Leaf through Chasing the Cure in New Mexico, Nancy Owen Lewis’ history of tuberculosis asylums in the state, to soak up the fascinating story of the “lungers” who began to arrive in the New Mexico Territory in the 1880s, forever changing the artistic landscape. Shop manager Vince Gioielli is firm about the shop’s mission: “We’re an annex of the History Museum itself,” he says. During the museum’s shutdown due to COVID-19, the store doubled down on that reputation. Because of its exterior access to the street, the Spiegelberg Shop stayed open as an ambassador for would-be museum visitors. Gioielli and his staff expanded book displays into the lobby to allow for socially distanced perusing. Though the shop sells everything from jewelry to cards to apparel, local bookworms consider it to be one of the very best bookstores in town for its comprehensive selection of New Mexico literature and history. Gioielli notes that he sells just as much fiction as nonfiction. Museum executive director Billy Garrett is equally proud of the breadth in the book section. “We have a great collection of books that complement both the exhibitions and the educational programs of the museum,” he says. “It’s quite important to us, and we think it’s an outstanding collection.”
