Amelia Elizabeth White and Martha Root White
Amelia Elizabeth White and Martha Root White, also known as The White Sisters, were sibling philanthropists and socialites born in New York, who settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico and championed for Indigenous people's land and cultural rights. They were "avid supporters of Indigenous arts", and were known in the region as a "powerhouse of reform in Native issues."
Amelia Elizabeth was primarily known as Elizabeth during her lifetime.
Early life and education
The White sisters were born to the journalist Horace White and his wife. White was the editor in chief of the New York Evening Post, and prior to that the Chicago Tribune. The sisters both attended Bryn Mawr College and served in France with the Belgian forces as nurse assistants.Biography
The sisters donated the land where the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian was built. Their philanthropic work also included funding the School for Advanced Research, the Indian Arts Fund, the Old Santa Fe Association as well as the civic organization, the DeVargas Development Company. Additionally Elizabeth donated a large collection of San Ildefonso Pueblo pottery to the collection of the School for Advanced Research, as well as the land where the campus is located. Elizabeth also donated land for the Santa Fe Folk Art Museum, the Laboratory of Anthropology and the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art. Additionally she was a benefactor of the Detroit Art Institute, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Corcoran Gallery.The sisters had an affinity for Rathmullan Irish Wolfhounds and Kandahar Afghan hounds which they raised in a "state-of-the-art kennel" on their estate at El Delirio. Elizabeth was a dog breeder and founded the first animal shelter in Santa Fe, and helped to develop and fund the "Dogs for Defense" program in New Mexico as part of the WWII sentry in conjunction with the U.S. Army.