Frank APPLEGATE (born February 8, 1881, Atlanta, Illinois–died February 12, 1931, Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Frank Applegate, an author, painter, potter and woodcarver, lived in Santa Fe for only a decade, but he had a profound impact on the city and the cultural region. The things that make Santa Fe a "city different" today, such as the Pueblo Revival architecture, the intermingling of Spanish, Indian and Anglo cultures, and the celebration of art, are the very things Applegate admired and defended. He first made the trip to New Mexico in 1921 when he took his family to see the famous Santa Fe Fiesta. He was so taken with the environment, that he moved to Santa Fe and became an adviser in matters related to Indian culture. He asserted that Indian crafts and Penitente carvings should be treated as collector's items and not just curios. Ultimately he turned to painting to record Indian life. He lived on Camino del Monte Sol among a line of pueblo huts inhabited by other artists who called themselves "Los Cinto Pintores." Other members of that group were Fremont Ellis, Will Shuster, Walter Mruk, Josef Bakos, and Willard Nash. Applegate was an exhibiting member of the New Mexico Painters Society.