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As one reflects on the history of the New World and its exploration during the Age of Discovery in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, a remarkable story unfolds within those lands discovered and settled by the Spanish. The lands today known as the Western Hemisphere, the Americas, the indigenous people who lived there, and the objects they produced is the subject of my story. My words offer a simple introduction of how the WEBSTER COLLECTION came into being and what thoughts I have dreamed for sharing this knowledge and collection. But most of the story is told through these ceremonial and utilitarian objects as representative examples of the time, place and people from whence they came. I have lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico since 1972 and have had and continue to have the great fortune to discover and explore many of the major archaeological sites, museums, and important historic towns and neighborhoods throughout Mexico, Peru, and the American Southwest. What I have experienced and learned would fill volumes, but represent little more than a grain of sand on the beach of time relative to all that there is to know and discover about these lands and cultures. These prehistoric peoples of the Americas - the Aztec, Maya, Olmec, Mistec, Teotihucuan, to name a few from Mexico, and from Peru - the Inca, Chavin, Nazca, Huari, Chancay, Chimu, Ica, Paracas, Lambayeque, and from the North American southwest, the Casas Grande, Mogollon, and Anasazi (evolving into the present day Pueblo people who have shared these lands for the last six to seven hundred years with the Navajo, Apache, Commanche, nomadic Athabascans who entered this continent across the land-sea bridge across the Bearing Sea) - produced timeless masterpieces that their day to day lives dictated as necessary, thereby yielding the deployment and results of their creative artistic talent which speaks for itself. I
have collected and brought together a sampling of items representing the art and history from Central, South, and North America with special emphasis
on Mexico, Peru, and the American Southwest, the geographic and chronological order of the Spanish exploration. The New World Collection
consists mostly of ceramics and textiles, but stone and wood objects,
historic photographs, documents, and drawings, and a library of
many of the leading volumes on these subjects is available for viewing
and purchase by appointment on the Westside of the historic Plaza in downtown
Santa Fe. Two words individually and collectively best describe
these cultures and the treasures that remain to represent them today
- TIMELESS INTEGRITY. Christopher
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