A look at ‘Women on the Mother Road’
The women who grew up with Route 66 struck out as artists, archaeologists, musicians and entrepreneurs in fields as varied as the terrain along the Mother Road. Documentary filmmaker Katrina Parks will present “The Women on the Mother Road in New Mexico: Route 66 Oral Histories and Screening and Discussion Program” on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Known for producing The Harvey Girls documentary “Opportunity Bound,” Parks plans to turn her latest project into another documentary. Parks interviewed about 80 women and was surprised by the variety and breadth of their experience. They did much more than work in mom and pop cafes and curio shops along the route. Santa Fe’s Fabiola Cabeza de Baca was a cultural interpreter during the 1930s and 1940s. “She was hired by the federal government to teach skills in smalltown New Mexico,” Parks said. “She taught women how to modernize food preparation and sewing. She did a lot of writing, as well.” She helped found the Sociedad Folklórico de Santa Fe, an organization dedicated to preserving Spanish language and Hispanic traditions. Bertha Parker Pallan Cody was the first Native American female archaeologist. Although she was labeled their “secretary,” her father and uncle introduced her to dig sites throughout the Southwest. She wrote for the Southwest Museum, which is part of the Autry (Museum of the American West) in Los Angeles,” Parks said. Amelia Elizabeth White was both a socialite and a real estate entrepreneur in 1920s Santa Fe, Parks said. “She was the daughter of a newspaper baron. She started acquiring all this land. She donated (land) to what became Museum Hill and the School of Advanced Research.” Laguna Pueblo’s Rosemary Natseway grew up in Winslow, Ariz., where her family worked for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Natseway grew up performing with the Santa Fe Indian Band. “She played the clarinet,” Parks said. “The band became a big engine for tourism. They went to (President Dwight D.) Eisenhower’s inauguration in Washington, D.C.” The project is sponsored by the New Mexico Humanities Council.