New Mexico Magazine

About New Mexico Magazine

New Mexico Magazine is the official state magazine of New Mexico, published monthly from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Launched in 1923, it is the first state magazine ever founded in the United States, and it has spent more than a century celebrating the Land of Enchantment's history, archaeology, culture, people, natural wonders, and tourist attractions. Published as an enterprise fund of the New Mexico Tourism Department — operating without taxpayer funding — it reaches more than 100,000 readers a month in print, online, and via its iOS app, and it also maintains a store selling New Mexico-related products. Subscription offers have priced a year of the magazine at about $22 for 10 issues. Its website is newmexicomagazine.org.

A Century of Publishing

New Mexico Magazine was launched in 1923 — a century-long run that it celebrated with a centennial anniversary in 2023. The New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe marked the occasion with "Enchantorama! New Mexico Magazine Turns 100," an exhibition tracing the history of the first magazine devoted to the state through a century of covers and photographs. Few American magazines of any kind can claim a hundred years of continuous publication; among state magazines, New Mexico Magazine stands alone as the pioneer, the model that later state publications would follow.

From Highway Newsletter to State Magazine

The magazine got its start as the official newsletter of the New Mexico Highway Department — a humble internal publication not unlike the origins of Texas Highways. Its mission expanded in the 1930s, when it began running more feature stories of interest to New Mexico tourists, reflecting the state's growing realization that its landscapes, cultures, and history were assets worth promoting. The transformation from highway bulletin to glossy state magazine mirrored New Mexico's own emergence as a destination, and the magazine has been telling the state's story to the world ever since.

Published by the Tourism Department

Today, New Mexico Magazine is an enterprise fund of the New Mexico Tourism Department — and it functions without taxpayer funding, supporting itself through subscriptions, newsstand sales, and advertising. The arrangement is unusual in American magazine publishing: a state agency publication that operates as a self-sustaining business. The magazine is based in Santa Fe, in the Lew Wallace Building at 495 Old Santa Fe Trail. Its editorial independence within the tourism department has allowed it to produce genuine journalism about the state rather than mere promotional copy.

What the Magazine Covers

The magazine covers the people, culture, arts, history, and landscape of New Mexico for a highly educated readership drawn from every corner of the world. About one-third of its audience lives in the state; the rest live elsewhere in the country, and out-of-state readers visit New Mexico an average of twice a year. Coverage spans ancient Pueblo archaeology and Spanish colonial heritage, Native American arts and pueblos, the state's legendary food culture — green chile above all — its deserts, mountains, grasslands, and forests, and its contemporary arts scenes in Santa Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque. The editors seek first-person narratives that inspire readers to follow in the writer's footsteps.

A Literary Legacy

Most of New Mexico's best-known authors, journalists, and photographers have contributed to the magazine over the years. Tony Hillerman, Rudolfo Anaya, and John Nichols — the holy trinity of New Mexico letters — all penned articles or essays for its pages, as did the famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle, John L. Sinclair, and Erna Fergusson. In 1939, the legendary photographer Edward Weston gave the magazine a collection of 33 original photographs, which the magazine subsequently donated to the Museum of New Mexico. Photographers whose work has graced the magazine include Harvey Caplin, Paul Caponigro, Douglas Kent Hall, Miguel Gandert, and Eliot Porter — a roster that reads like a history of Southwestern photography.

Photography and Visual Identity

From Weston's 1939 gift onward, photography has been central to the magazine's identity. Its pages have showcased the work of masters of landscape and cultural photography, capturing everything from White Sands' gypsum dunes to Taos Pueblo's ancient adobe, from lowrider culture to high-desert light. The magazine's covers — a century of them displayed in the centennial exhibition — form a visual history of how New Mexico has seen itself and wished to be seen. Its design balances award-winning features with practical departments and event guides, all paced for what subscribers describe as a captivating reader experience.

Readership and Reach

Reaching more than 100,000 readers a month, New Mexico Magazine serves both residents and visitors — "an invaluable resource serving residents and visitors alike," as its subscription materials put it. The magazine publishes 12 issues a year in print, complemented by its website and iOS app. Each issue blends award-winning features with practical departments and statewide event guides, and the magazine also maintains a store selling New Mexico-related products. Its audience skews educated and affluent, with the out-of-state majority representing the travelers most likely to plan trips around the magazine's recommendations — a valuable demographic for the state's tourism economy.

For Writers

The magazine is a sought-after market for freelance writers, paying 35 to 40 cents per word — strong rates by regional-magazine standards. The editors look for stories about the New Mexico experience, mostly about things people can do in the state, told with fresh eyes and true insight. They place a premium on good storytelling, tight composition, factual accuracy, and original work, and they do not accept unsolicited manuscripts — writers pitch first — by email to queries@nmmagazine.com or by post to the magazine’s Santa Fe offices in the Lew Wallace Building at 495 Old Santa Fe Trail — with a working headline, subhead, and paragraph synopsis of the proposed story. Its contributor guidelines have made it a fixture in writers' market guides for decades.

The Centennial Celebration

The magazine's 100th anniversary in 2023 was a statewide event. The New Mexico Tourism Department announced a year of centennial programming, and the New Mexico History Museum at 113 Lincoln Avenue in Santa Fe mounted "Enchantorama! New Mexico Magazine Turns 100" — an exhibition inviting visitors to learn the history of the first magazine devoted to the state while enjoying a selection of covers and photographs appearing in the publication since 1923. The June 2023 issue carried centennial coverage celebrating the milestone. For a publication that began as a highway department newsletter, reaching a century of continuous publication — through the Great Depression, world wars, and the digital revolution — was a testament to the enduring appeal of its mission: showing the state through the eyes of those who promoted it most.

The Power of Place

New Mexico Magazine's tagline might well be "the power of place" — the phrase its own marketing uses to describe a publication devoted to more than 120,000 square miles of mountains, desert, grasslands, and forest, "inhabited by a culturally rich mix of individuals." A century after its founding as a highway department newsletter, it remains what it has always been: the state's premier magazine, dedicated to New Mexico's art, culture, and history as well as what's happening now throughout the state — and proof that a publication can serve both its home and the world without losing its soul.