Congratulations to Guinivere Mayse, an Art Hisotry, Museum Conservation, and History major, who was awarded the 2026 Gemoets Prize by the Doña Ana County Historical Society (DACHS) Board. This award is for her published article about Mary Daniels Taylor, "Women Belong On Campus: the College Life of Mary Daniels" which was published in the Southern New Mexico Historical Review.
Gemoets Prize: The $100 Gemoets Prize is awarded to the author of the “Outstanding Article” in the current issue of the Southern New Mexico Historical Review as determined by the Editor. It may also be awarded to an individual who made a significant contribution to the development and continuance of the Review. The award was established by Doris and Martin Gemoets, longtime supporters of the Review.
Guinivere Mayse is being recognized for her article “Women Belong on Campus: The College Life of Mary Daniels”. Guinivere describes Mary’s life, from early childhood to her experience pursuing a college degree at what are now UTEP and NMSU. Guinivere also documents Mary Daniels Taylor’s long career as a photographer and historian, including her book Mesilla, New Mexico, 1848-1872, A Place As Wild As The West Ever Was, which is one of the best local histories written. One of Mary’s lasting legacies was initiating the Durango Microfilming Project with the NMSU Rio Grande Historical Collections, in which more than a million pages of materials from the Archive of the Archbishopric of Durango were microfilmed. Yet as Guinivere points out, “like many women in historical narratives, her contributions are often overshadowed by those of her husband,” something which her article perhaps hopes to correct. The family home of Mary Daniels Taylor and her husband J. Paul Taylor was certainly in the news a lot last year, with the opening of the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Site in November. J. Paul would have likely given much of the credit to his wife Mary for making that house a home, and as a peer and partner in all their collective academic pursuits. A graduate of NMSU with degrees in art history and history, Guinivere explores in her work intersections of feminist, queer, and Black visual and cultural histories, and is currently serving as lead curatorial interim for a private car collection in Sunland Park.
