The Palace Press Curator Panel Discussion

Join the New Mexico History Museum on First Friday Art Walk for a panel discussion featuring the former and current Palace Press curators Pamela Smith, Tom Leech, and Keri Schroeder. Longtime New Mexico journalist Kate Nelson will moderate the discussion about literary arts in New Mexico, and the Palace Press - the oldest, and longest-running letterpress operation of its kind in the state.

This program is free and open to the public. We encourage guests to arrive early to view the new Printed at the Palace exhibition inside the Palace of the Governors. Art Walk takes place 5 - 7 p.m.

Keri Schroeder is a book artist and the current curator of the Palace Press since 2025. Keri previously worked at Flying Fish Press and BookLab II and produces limited-edition artist’s books. She was a recipient of the Center for Craft Teaching Artist Award in 2023 and winner of the MCBA Prize recognizing excellence in the field of book arts in 2022.

Pamela Smith launched her lifetime dedication to the arts of the book as a writer in the late 1960s, followed by 28 years as director/printer of the Museum of New Mexico’s Palace Print Shop, beginning in 1971. In tandem with her museum work she established her own MarbleSmith Papers, a widely recognized purveyor of hand marbled sheets for fine book work. Today she continues teaching her skills.

Tom Leech is a printer, papermaker, marbler, and sometimes writer. He was the curator of the Press at the Palace of the Governors from 2001 through 2021. He currently pursues the book arts in his home studio in Eldorado, New Mexico.

Writer and editor Kate Nelson has covered New Mexico's people, art, history and culture since 1989. During a stint as the History Museum's marketing manager, she developed an abiding love for the Palace Press.