LECTURE: NOVEMBER 7th, 2026 @ 2:00 PM
Kit Carson Electric Coop Conference Room

"WHITE ELK OF PICURIS PUEBLO"

by Celinda Kaelin

Celinda Reynolds Kaelin, granddaughter of New Mexico pioneer and homesteader, John Allen Reynolds, is an ethnohistorian.  She and her husband ranched in Colorado for 30 years, and now reside in Taos, New Mexico.  They have three children, eight grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. She has been a member of Western Writers of America and Women Writing the West for over twenty-five years.  She served as president of the Pikes Peak Historical Society for over twenty-six years.  Celinda began writing full time in 1989, after she took an early retirement from her government job as auditor.  She received her B.A. in Business Administration from the College of Santa Fe as well as advanced degree work from University of Maryland.  She is the author of eight nonfiction books: Celinda’s account of the Elder’s ceremony to heal the Bird Flu is included in McGaa’s 2007 book Creator’s Code, and her poetry is included in the 2007 anthology Open Range, edited by Laurie Wagner Buyer & WC Jameson, Ghost Road Press publisher. 
Celinda is the author of hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and has lectured extensively throughout the Pikes Peak region.  Many of her articles are available on Acadamia.edu.  She was a featured speaker at the Colorado Springs Metaphysical Fair in 1999, the Denver Metaphysical Fail in 2000 and the Rocky Mountain Book Festival in Denver in 1999 and 2001. 

Celinda was selected by Writer’s Digest to teach a writing workshop for their October 4th, 2001, World’s Largest Writing Workshop at Barnes & Noble in Colorado Springs.  Celinda was also a featured speaker at the International Anza Conference in 2015 and 2016.  She served the Western Writers of America as a judge for their annual Spur Literary Awards in 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2019, and 2021. 
She served as adjunct professor at Colorado College from 1998 to the present. She also served as president of the Pikes Peak Historical Society for twenty-six years and facilitated the annual homecoming of the Northern Utes to Pikes Peak for ceremony on their sacred mountain during this time.  Celinda was featured in three PBS documentaries:  “Colorado Experience; Native Horses,” 2022; and “Dancing with Eagles and Condors,” 2004; and “Dance of the Wild,” 2025.
 Celinda is proud to be an adopted member of both the Ute Nation (who named her Sunif Mamuch/Wolf Woman) and Lakota Nation (who named her Unpan Oyate Win/Elk People Woman).  She follows Lakota spiritual tradition as a carrier of the Sacred Pipe and has completed fifteen Sun Dances.  Her 5th great grandfather was the Cherokee shaman, Ugvwiyuhi Totsu’wha (Red Bird), of the Thunderbolt/Lightning Clan.

TCHS Lectures are Free to Members
and available to the general public for a requested $5.00 Donation

Admission is "1st Come, 1st Served" to the Maximum Capacity of "80".
(Capacity is mandated by the Town of Taos Fire Department)



The Taos County Historical Society is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1952 and dedicated to the recording and preserving of the irreplaceable in Taos County.
Membership is open to anyone upon payment of dues.
For additional information on the programs, activities and history of Taos visit the Society's website at www.taoscountyhistoricalsociety.org

The Society encourages support through membership.
 

AYER Y HOY
2026 Summer
Issue #60

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Summer 2026 issue:

•"Que Viva El Tio Vivo"
by Carmen Almira Martinez-Lieurance

• "Remarkable Josefa"
by JonnaLynn K. Mandelbaum

• New Mexico In 1776
by F.R. Bob Romero

• Filigree Jewelry & Luna Family in Taos
by E. Jane Burns

• How I Found More Family:
A Historical Surprise
by Dave Cordova

AYER Y HOY
2025 Winter
Issue #59

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Winter 2025 issue:

•An Electric Coop Changed Taos
by Michael Miller

• Restoring The Vigil House & Torreon
by Gail Wendorf

• New Mexico Historic Churches
by Frank Graziano

• Who Was Walter Willard Johnson?
by Dave Cordova

AYER Y HOY
2025 Summer
Issue #58

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Summer 2025 issue:

•The History of the Taos County Fair
by Monica Wilder

• Josefa Carson & Ignacia Bent
by Elizabeth Cunningham

• Exploring Vaquero Culture
& La Idomia de Los Norteños de Rio Arriba
by Michael Miller

• When It All Began for TCHS
by Paul C. Figueroa

• Very Intersting History
by Dave Cordova

AYER Y HOY
2024 Winter
Issue #57

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Winter 2024 issue:

•"The Duran Chapel"
by Fr. Juan Romero

• Ceran St. Vrain
"A Gentleman of the Frontier"
by WB Francis T. Cheetham
(edited by Dave Cordova)

•Tradiciones y Historias
"Las Cabanuelas"
by Michael Miller
The Taos County Historical Society was formed in 1952 for the purpose of "... preserving the history of the Taos area...". It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization managed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Monthly meetings, the first Saturday of the month are held at Kit Carson Electric Boardroom with a featured speaker are open to the public and supported through memberships. These are also open to anyone upon payment of annual dues. For more information visit the Society's website, ww.taoscountyhistoricalsociety.org

Taos County Historical Society
has successully launched
"TAOS: A Topical History"

320 pages, 26 chapters and contributors.

Mil Gracias, A THOUSAND THANKS, does not begin to cover the many, many individuals to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. This debt is not only the living but also to those men and women who long ago began to preserve the journals and documents we now depend upon for knowledge of the past: the chroniclers who accompanied the explorers and settlers and who, dusty, tired and hungry, sat in the light of a candle to record in their journals the events of the day and the Franciscan clerics who made detailed reports of their canonical visits to the mission churches of Nuevo México.

Corina A. Santistevan
Acknowledgements in "Taos: A Topical History"

If you would like to order a copy from the
Taos County Historical Society
please send a check for $40 (book+shipping) payable to
Taos County Historical Society and mail to:

Taos County Historical Society
PO Box 2447
Taos, NM 87571



Email us

Phone: (575) 770-0681

PO Box 2447 • Taos, NM 87571