John S. Candelario was known for his cinematography work and still photographs of New Mexico and the Southwest. He operated the original Old Curio Store (Candelario Curio Store), the oldest Indian trading post in the United States, located at 201 West San Francisco Street. Born on September 7, 1916, in Santa Fe, the son of Arthur and Alice (Candelario) Weeks, he was later adopted by his grandfather, Jesusito Candelario. He died October 5, 1993.
In 1938, Candelario took over the Old Curio Store owned by his grandfather, J. S. (Jesusito) Candelario. While running it, he became interested in motion pictures. He won television's Emmy and Peabody awards and won the American Film festival's Golden Reel Award for the art film, "Indian Artists of the Southwest." He was director of Southwest Fine Recordings and president of Cinemark Productions and Cine 837 Educational Film Producing Company.
As a still photographer Candelario did portraits for Mabel Dodge Luhan's book, Taos Artists. He photographs appeared in national magazines, such as Life and Holiday. Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz befriended him and displayed his photographs. Candelario worked with Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, introducing them to the pueblos.
Candelario also wrote many short stories, some appeared in journals and others were made into movie scripts.
From the guide to the John S. Candelario Collection, 1895-1999, (Museum of New Mexico. Fray Angélico Chávez History Library.)
