One of a collection of sixteen Hispanic textiles purchased by History Colorado from Elmer Shupe in Taos, New Mexico between 1972 and 1973. Elmer Shupe, was a blanket trader and son of Mormon Judge W. K. Shupe, who founded the northern New Mexico community of Carson in 1909. Elmer Shupe started to collect old Rio Grande weavings and colchas during the early years of the twentieth century. For some time, the area of the San Luis Valley around Alamosa in south central Colorado was a major site of his collecting operations as well as the place where he lived. At the beginning of his trading career, Shupe moved throughout the region gathering antique textiles on his bicycle. Stories still circulate telling of his arrival in small villages like Capulin, Colorado, armed with persuasive arguments that convinced people to exchange their old and “worn” colcha bedcovers for the more up-to-date bedspreads he offered in trade. These tales always end with the image of Shupe peddling down yet another dusty back road in search of more textiles and treasures. (MacAulay, Suzanne P., Carson Colcha Embroideries: From Ersatz to Orthodox, Textile Society of America, 2004).