NEW MEXICO HISTORY MUSEUM

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.

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.

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.”

Gioielli, who has been with the Spiegelberg Shop since 2009, says customers also come in for Santo Domingo Pueblo pottery and inlaid silver jewelry. He is proud of the longtime, multigenerational relationships forged with the artists and artisans whose works are sold in the store.

Santa Fe santera and mystery series author Marie Romero Cash is a perennial bestseller, he says. The shop also features an array of sculptures and artwork by her son, Gregory Lomayesva. Pendants and cuff bracelets by Cochiti-Zuni jeweler Jolene Eustace are another customer favorite, and Gioielli knows many in her family. “There were 12 sisters,” he remembers, “and two have passed on. So many of these relationships go back for years.” exhibition’s Old English-styled T-shirts quickly sold out. He enjoyed selling the hippie accessories and books that were paired with Voices of Counterculture in the Southwest in 2017. And art books flew out of the shop during the 2014 run of Painting the Divine: Images of Mary in the New World, in which colonial Iberian paintings from the Collier collection were shown for the first time and paired with modern paintings from New Mexico artists.

Gioielli says that Shops buyer Sara Birmingham has a reputation for “really going all out” to find and sell merchandise to complement its exhibitions. One of his favorite merchandising moments came with 2016’s Lowriders, Hoppers, and Hot Rods: Car Culture of Northern New Mexico, when the As the museum put many of its programs online during the shutdowns brought on by COVID-19, the shop has offered a way for history lovers to continue their relationship with the museum. “Being able to come in and get a book, or ordering a book and having it delivered, is still something that prepares one for a virtual exhibition or program at the museum,” says executive director Garrett.

He adds that quarantine reads from the shop offer an avenue to bone up on history in anticipation of future physical exhibitions. “This is a great time for people who are interested in New Mexico history to do some additional reading before they can come in and enjoy our exhibitions and our programs again,” he says.

To support the New Mexico History Museum, contact Yvonne Montoya at Yvonne@museumfoundation.org or 505.216.1592.

Opposite: Spiegelberg Shop manager Vince Gioielli shows two best-selling books on important women in New Mexico history. Above: An array of handmade jewelry by Lawrence Baca, Wanda Lobito and Ralph Sena represent the shop’s strong relationships with local artists. Photos © Saro Calewarts.