Historian Dr. John O. Baxter’s Generous Donation Enhances HSFF’s Reading Room Collection

Photo credits (Left to right): John on a horse circa 1930s courtesy of John O. Baxter; Recent portrait of John O. Baxter by Diana Proctor

Historic Santa Fe Foundation is excited to announce the opening of a Reading Room in the Eugene and Clare Thaw Education and Research Center at the Edwin Brooks House, 553 Canyon Road. The reading room adds to the Foundation’s archives and research collection, which has files on 455 properties and 165 people from around the state. The Reading Room offers 750 books on New Mexico’s history, with topics from the Santa Fe Trail to water rights and land grants, to architectural history. Almost 400 of those books were generously donated by Dr. John O. Baxter who has collected them over his riveting career as a historian.

Dr. John O. Baxter is a historian of the American Southwest. He is most well-known for his books Las Carneradas: Sheep Trade in New Mexico, 1700-1860, Dividing New Mexico’s Waters, 1700-1912, and Cowboy Park: Steer-Roping Contests on the Border. Baxter worked for many years as a consultant for the New Mexico State Engineer and produced many reports on water rights and the history of irrigation. For years, he served on the Historical Society of New Mexico Board. Throughout his career, he wrote nominations for the State and National Register of Historic Places, and HSFF’s Register. Baxter served on the Foundation’s Board from 1978-1985. 

Baxter was born in 1927 in Chicago to Harry Baxter and Mary Dern Baxter. His father, a businessman, passed away when John was a few years old. His mother, Joanna, his sister, and he moved to Salt Lake City to live with his maternal grandparents: George and Lottie Dern. George Dern was the Governor of Utah at the time. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Dern as the Secretary of War, leading to the whole family moving to Washington D.C. 

Unfortunately, George Dern died in 1936. The family moved again when Mary married Herbert F. Goodrich, a distinguished legal scholar. They lived in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania and John attended school in Philadelphia. In the summers John would take the train from Chicago to Montana with his cousin who lived in Milwaukee. They would spend their break at Two Dot Land and Livestock Company owned by their grandfather E.C. Baxter. John would spend his days at the ranch branding cattle, irrigating, putting up hay, and participating in rodeos. He was nicknamed ‘One Loop’ for his ability to catch a cow’s hindlegs with just one loop. 

During World War II Baxter was drafted. He was stationed at Fort Knox before being sent overseas to serve in Germany. After about a year, he was discharged and returned to attain a degree in history from Princeton. After graduating he returned to his family’s ranch before leaving for Colorado in 1966 to work as a cattle buyer and livestock dealer. 

During this time, he started visiting Santa Fe on business trips and became enthralled by the region’s history. He moved to Santa Fe in 1969 to work at a farm outside of Moriarty and traveled around New Mexico feeding and buying cattle for people around the Southwest. Shortly after his arrival in Santa Fe, his interest in local history took over, and he started attending classes at the University of New Mexico. He went on to earn an MA and PhD in History from the UNM, specializing in New Mexico history. He worked for the New Mexico State Records and Archives under Dr. Myra Ellen Jenkins. Dr. Jenkins was a big help in Baxter’s career advancing his education and business in New Mexico history. During this time, he gained a greater interest in water and its history in the Southwest, something he appreciated the importance of since his childhood on the ranch. He worked for years as a research historian and was kept busy writing histories of various acequias, water systems, historic properties, cowboys, and more. 

Outside of research, Baxter was a music lover, classical and country, going to concerts, the opera, or dancing every chance he had. Baxter was an avid outdoorsman, loving birding and hiking. As an active member of the hiking group Santa Fe Chile and Marching Society, he would spend hours hiking. At 97, John still walked his dog Fred every day and looked forward to the delivery of his favorite publications Livestock Weekly and ProRodeo. John Baxter passed away on July 24, 2025. You can find his obituary here. 

~Giulia Caporuscio