Jose Garcia

Native Santa Fean Jose Garcia was appointed City Historian on July 28, 2010.  As a Northern New Mexico Historian and Genealogist, Garcia has researched the history of New Mexico extensively.  He is particularly well-versed in the history of Santa Fe from the colonial era to the present.  He has completed research in local archives as well as archives in Spain. 

See below for a series of articles on the New Mexico Colonial Governors of the 1600s published by Garcia, including an article on the founding governor of Santa Fe, Pedro de Peralta.  Mr. Garcia has also written and published articles about other personalities who left their mark on Santa Fe history.  He wrote on explorer Pedro Vial who blazed the trail that would later be call The Santa Fe Trail and Bernardo Miera y Pacheco who lived and died in Santa Fe and was considered a renaissance personality of the colonial era.  

Mr. Garcia currently serves on the 400th Anniversary Committee and is also a past member of the Santa Fe Fiesta Council and the Caballeros de Vargas de Santa Fe.

Garcia enjoys reflecting the history of the city and its peoples through documentation, research and interpretation of the people, places and events that have created Santa Fe’s unique and distinctive character.

Mr. Garcia can be reached at:

PO Box 32208, Santa Fe, NM  87594

email:  e-mail

Colonial Governors:

Governor Pedro de Peralta
Colonial Governors - 1614 to 1625
Colonial Governors - 1625 to 1641
Colonial Governors - 1641 to 1656
Colonial Governors - 1656 to 1661
Colonial Governors - 1661 to 1665 and 1671 to 1675
Colonial Governors - 1665 to 1677
Colonial Governors - 1677 to 1683