The 2010 census found that 1,018 people lived in the CDP, while 1,182 people in the United States reported being exclusively Santa Claran and 1,425 people reported being Santa Claran exclusively or in combination with another group.
History
Tewa people lived in the Pueblo area for millennia before they met Spanish Conquistador Juan de Oñate and his exploration party on July 11, 1598. Pueblo archaeology shows that Ancestral Puebloans lived in the general region as far back as 1200 BC. First visited in 1541, a segment of Francisco Coronado's expeditionary force met with the residents of the nearby Caypa Pueblo. After annexation of the region into the Spanish Kingdom, and as part of the 1601 expansion of Oñate's colonial capital, a chapel was built there by 1617. Fray Alonso de Benavides established a mission in 1628. The mission was abandoned on the lead up to the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680. This Pueblo joined forces with others nearby and fought against the Spanish Royal Government in 1680 in the revolt. The original and unoccupied chapel was destroyed. Two other chapel buildings would be constructed there. The current church replaced the former in 1918. In 1782, a small pox outbreak decimated the population. The eighth section of the Act of July 22, 1854 mandated a census of the newly acquired possessions of the US government. In review of the land's title, the pueblo presented a Spanish Royal decree dated October 15, 1713 that the title to land and various pueblos could be expected. Though lost, the decree on the title papers, if ever they existed, assured protection of the pueblos' right to protection of their homelands from encroachment. The result of the title research led this Pueblo community to be of the first recognized by United States Congress.
Arts
Among the arts practiced at Santa Clara Pueblo, pottery is one of the most well-known. Traditionally, pottery was made primarily by girls and women, and while many potters today are women, there are many men who make pottery as well. Santa Clara Pueblo potters are known for their black polished and red polished pottery in a distinctive style, especially the use of incised work. "Knife-wing" or eagle feather designs are common on Santa Clara pottery There are a number of well-known ceramic artists from Santa Clara. Four approaches are used in the decoration of the majority of Santa Clara Pueblo ceramics: painted designs, impressed patterns, incised designs, and resist-firing with incised or sgraffito designs.
Notable tribal members and residents
Angela Baca, matriarch of the Santa Clara melon potters
Roxanne Swentzell, contemporary ceramicist and bronze sculptor, Native plant activist, mother of ceramic, poetry, and performance artist Rose B. Simpson
Rose B. Simpson, internationally recognized mixed-media, ceramic, and performance artist
