Santa Clara Pueblo is famous for producing hand-crafted pottery, specifically blackware and redware with deep engravings. The pueblo is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 2010 census found that 1,018 people lived in the CDP,[7] while 1,182 people in the United States reported being exclusively Santa Claran[8] and 1,425 people reported being Santa Claran exclusively or in combination with another group.[9]
History
Tewa people lived in the Pueblo area for millennia before they met Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate and his exploration party on July 11, 1598.[10] Pueblo archaeology shows that Ancestral Puebloans lived in the general region as far back as 1200 BC.
First visited in 1541, a segment of Francisco Coronado's expeditionary force met with the residents of the nearby Caypa Pueblo. After annexation of the region into the Spanish Kingdom, and as part of the 1601 expansion of Oñate's colonial capital,[11] a chapel was built there by 1617. Fray Alonso de Benavides established a mission in 1628.[10] The mission was abandoned on the lead up to the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
This Pueblo joined forces with others nearby and fought against the Spanish Royal Government in 1680 in the revolt. The original and unoccupied chapel was destroyed. Two other chapel buildings would be constructed there. The current church replaced the former in 1918.
In 1782, a smallpox outbreak decimated the population. The eighth section of the Act of July 22, 1854, mandated a census of the newly acquired possessions of the US government. In review of the land's title, the pueblo presented a Spanish Royal decree dated October 15, 1713, that the title to land and various pueblos could be expected. Though lost, the decree on the title papers assured protection of the pueblos' right to protection of their homelands from encroachment. The result of the title research led this Pueblo community to be of the first recognized by United States Congress.
Among the arts practiced at Santa Clara Pueblo, pottery is one of the most well-known.[15] Traditionally, pottery was made primarily by girls and women, and while many potters today are women, there are many men who make pottery as well. Santa Clara Pueblo potters are known for their black polished and red polished pottery in a distinctive style, especially the use of incised work. "Knife-wing" or eagle feather designs are common on Santa Clara pottery[16][17][18] There are a number of well-known ceramic artists from Santa Clara. Four approaches are used in the decoration of the majority of Santa Clara Pueblo ceramics: painted designs, impressed patterns, incised designs, and resist-firing with incised or sgraffito designs.[15]
Notable tribal members and residents
Double-handled Santa Clara bowl with Awanyu design, by Florence Browning, 1996
Angela Baca, matriarch of the Santa Clara melon potters
^U.S. Census Bureau (2010). "NM - Santa Clara CDP". United States Census 2010. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
^Census 2010 American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File (AIANSF) - Sample Data, Pueblo of Santa Clara alone (H58)
^Census 2010 American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File (AIANSF) - Sample Data, Pueblo of Santa Clara alone or in any combination (H58) & (100-299) or (300, A01-Z99) or (400-999)
^Berger, Guy (2004). Pueblo and Navajo contemporary pottery and directory of artists. Schiffer, Nancy. (2nd ed., rev. and enl ed.). Atglen, PA: Schiffer. pp. 67–77. ISBN0764318969. OCLC57013886.
