John L. Meigs Collection

DONOR:

John L. Meigs

SCOPE & CONTENT:

IHSF holds a large collection of the John Meigs personal papers, photographs and his library. Please contact IHSF for information regarding availability.

BIOGRAPHY:

John Liggett Meigs (aka John Eugene MacMillan) was born May 10, 1916 to John Liggett Meigs, Sr. and Margaret Mary Cookly at St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, Il. He died August 29, 2003 in Ruidoso, NM near his home in San Patricio, NM.

John Meigs was an artist, interior designer, art collector, photographer and writer. He was noted for his Hawaiian shirt creations, "Keoni designs", his work with renowned artist Peter Hurd and Hurd's wife, Henriette Wyeth, his design of seven renowned New Mexico restaurants, including Mesilla's Double Eagle, Tinnie's Silver Dollar, Albuquerque's Maria Theresa, and his association with artisans of his time, including Paul Horgan, Georgia O'Keefe, Witter Bynner, Helen Hays and many others.

When John was six months old, his father and nurse kidnapped him from his mother. He was raised as John Eugene MacMillan, and lived throughout the United States. When John wished to enlist in the US Navy in WWII, requiring a birth certificate, he was told the true story of his birth mother. Works by John prior to WWII are signed "John MacMillan."