The Santa Fe Living Treasures, an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization, publicly honors elders who have generously served our community with kind hearts and good deeds. Their oral histories and photographs are recorded, archived, and made available to the public at the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, Santa Fe, NM.
Our Treasures are 70 years or older, live in the Santa Fe area, and have generously served and inspired others in our community.
Treasures include teachers, nurses, artists, writers, farmers, good neighbors, merchants, weavers, photographers, builders, architects, potters, dancers, physicians, historians, naturalists, environmentalists, healers, pueblo governors, journalists, musicians, volunteers, and people from many other walks of life.
We express our appreciation for them at a simple public ceremony. The honorees are presented with awards, and friends and family share their remembrances.
Our honorees are selected from nominations from the community. The honorees are introduced, stories are told, awards are presented, and friends and family come forward to share their own remembrances.
Anyone may nominate a Santa Fe Living Treasure by sending letters of recommendation to the Living Treasures Committee.
As founder of the Living Treasures program, MLC has been its steady source of energy and heart. She has received numerous international, national, and community awards as a distinguished leader. She is also known for her work as a calligrapher, teacher, minister, author, and peace worker.
Peace activist and minister Mary Lou Cook, along with friends, founded the Santa Fe Living Treasures program in 1984. Inspired by Gandhi's advice, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world,"; the group wanted to do something that wasn't being done - express appreciation for the important contributions of our Elders. Modeled after traditions from Japan, it is a simple concept of honoring those Elders in our communities who make a difference.
The Treasures honored at our ceremonies represent our best values. In honoring them, the group aims to say a heartfelt "Thank You"; and to inspire others to become active in serving our community.
In the early years, Living Treasures ceremonies were held in homes, but as its popularity grew, increased public attendance required the use of public spaces such as a library, meeting hall, or museum.
Usually two ceremonies are held each year, and usually three people receive official Living Treasures awards at each ceremony. More than one hundred seventy Treasures have been honored since 1984.
In 1997, portraits and excerpts from the interviews of the first 104 Treasures were compiled into a book, Living Treasures: Celebration of the Human Spirit
Our program has inspired the founding of similar programs in other cities in New Mexico and around the country. Some Santa Fe schools now have a Teen Treasures, and several churches have established a Treasures program of their own.
by Mary Lou Cook
This free booklet is a complete guide for
starting a Living Treasures program.
The Handbook includes:
- How to gather a committee and organize a program
- How to plan and conduct a ceremony
- Media relations
- Samples of invitations and certificates
- Tips on interviewing
- Related Projects