Mary J. Straw Cook

Picked up on my last visit to Santa Fe, which indicates how far I’m behind in my reading. Subtitled “Santa Fe’s Courtesan and Gambler”, this is a nice little scholarly study showing what a good researcher can do with scanty material. There’s very little documentation for Gertrudis Barceló (“Tules” is a diminutive of ”Gertrudis”); some mention in letters from various American officers after the occupation of Santa Fe in 1848; the transcript of a lawsuit over money owed to her; her last will and testament; an account of her funeral expenses; and precious little else. Author Mary J. Straw Cook manages to spin this out into a short, readable history of Santa Fe in the years before and after the American conquest.


The subtitle is misnomer. Doña Tules was never a courtesan in the usual sense of the term; she was wealthy enough on her own that she didn’t need to sell her favors. She did live out of wedlock with a succession of lovers; however Cook argues that the Church rules in New Mexico at the time made it extremely expensive to get married and most couples didn’t. Similarly, Doña Tules wasn’t really a gambler either; she ran the bank in a monte game. The rules of monte made it extremely difficult for the bank to lose and dealer/banker with a modicum of card skill could make it impossible. Hence Doña Tules simply absorbed cash from miners, traders, and anyone else who could afford it; there wasn’t really any gambling on her part.


Cook has done yeoman research, tracking down the aforementioned documents plus maps of Santa Fe during Doña Tules lifetime and a floor plan of her house. This last is a shred of potential evidence to suggest that Doña Tules might have been engaged in activities involving negotiations over young ladies’ virtue; the dwelling seems to have an inordinate number of bedrooms for a single woman or a casual couple. However, I point out that I live alone but my house has three bedrooms; I’m not running a brothel in it (I’m running a library, which is quite different. Mostly).


As a concession to marketability, the book cover is a drawing of a devastating beautiful Hispanic lady, with high-piled hair, lace gloves, a heart-shaped fan, and a come-hither glance

However, the only authenticated image of Doña Tules shows a lady with a somewhat harder visage

Perhaps the artist had just lost his bankroll at monte and was feeling uncharitably inclined.

Well, not exactly a role model for young Hispanic ladies, but interesting enough. Well referenced, including appendices with original documents. Illustrations are mostly views of early Santa Fe and portraits of various important personages.
… (mais)