Museums & Libraries

Constructed 1905. The Artesia Historical Museum & Art Center is housed in the 1905 Moore-Ward cobblestone house, built using river rocks from the Rio Penasco just south of town. A wide variety of exhibits and objects are on display, including Native American artifacts, farm and ranch tools, early oil and Read More…

Constructed 1935. The Branigan Cultural Center hosts changing cultural exhibits, as well as educational programs, classes, and other special events. The building is on the National and State Registries of Historic Buildings.On view at the Cultural Center is the mural “First Book about New Mexico-1610”, painted by Tom Lea (1907) Read More…

According to the City of Carlsbad the Carlsbad Museum and Art Center was founded in 1931 and fulfills its mission as a cultural and educational institution through the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of artifacts, documents and works of art relating to prehistory, history and aesthetic environment of the City Read More…

Constructed 1904 Las Vegas Carnegie Library was one of three Carnegie Libraries built in New Mexico, along with Raton and Roswell. A grant of $10,000 from the Andrew Carnegie fund helped build the library, and Las Vegas is the only active Carnegie Library remaining in the state. The building was Read More…

Constructed 1875. Prior to moving to Corrales, Ward Alan and Shirley Jolly Minge began accumulating scarce Hispanic New Mexican artifacts that would have otherwise been lost. To accommodate their growing collection, the Minges, in 1952 sought out the perfect location for their new home. They found a venerable old adobe Read More…

Constructed 1940 The City of Las Vegas Museum and Rough Rider Memorial is housed in the historic Municipal Building. Las Vegas Municipal Building was designed by the Santa Fe architectural firm of Kruger & Clark and constructed during 1939-40 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. Among the museum’s exhibits Read More…

Constructed 1939. The former Clayton Library, now known as the D.D. Monroe Civic Building, was built by the WPA in 1939 in the Pueblo-Revival style. The building was designed by Willard C. Kruger. It served as the public library until the 1980s when the library moved to a new building Read More…

Constructed 1835. The historic Site includes not only the home and studio of E.I. Couse, but the garden designed by his wife, Virginia, the workshops of his son, Kibbey, and the two studios of his neighbor and fellow artist, Joseph Henry Sharp. The Site also reflects the contributions of a Read More…

Constructed 1889. In the 1840s there was a war raging between Mexico and the United States. The war ended in 1848 but not the dispute over a strip of land called the Mesilla Strip. During that period, a small one room ranchero was built on the site of the Old Read More…

Constructed 1916. The old National Guard Armory building, is now the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum, which was purchased from the State of New Mexico in 1977. The building was built in 1916, the first armory to be completed in the new State of New Mexico. Even before the building was Read More…

Constructed 1909 Built in 1882, burned and rebuilt in 1909, the E. Romero Hose & Fire Building is the home of the first volunteer fire department in New Mexico. The original wood frame fire house was replaced by the brick building in 1909. The 1913 Sanborn map notes for the Read More…

Constructed 1937. The Farmington library was moved to a new building constructed in 1937 as a Works Progress Administration project located on the small city park at the corner of East La Plata and Orchard. The collection consisted of 2,000 books. This building was remodeled in 1961 and again in Read More…

Constructed 1860. Ernest L. Blumeschein was among the first professional artists to discover the many charms of Taos in 1898. According to legend, Blumenschein and artist friend Bert Phillips supply wagon broke down on the outskirts of Taos, and they found the adobe village by chance. They remained for decades Read More…

Constructed 1918. The Amtrak stop in Gallup is a two-story stucco station built in 1918 in the Mission Revival architectural style. It was originally constructed to serve as an area headquarters for the Santa Fe Railway, the successor to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. A Harvey House hotel and restaurant, Read More…

Constructed 1919. Originally built as a Methodist Episcopal Church in 1919, the Herzstein Memorial Museum houses the largest WPA collection in the State of New Mexico. The collection includes furniture, paintings, and other items made by workers of the WPA. — Source: Herzstein Memorial Museum website 22 S. 2nd St. Read More…

Constructed 1912. The Center serves as a repository for historical items from Southeast New Mexico. Contained within the collection are bronze busts by John Raymond Terken in 1937. The busts are of prominent citizens John S. Chisum, Joseph Lea, John J. Hagerman and Amelia Bolton Church. — Source: “Public Art Read More…

Constructed 1860. Kit Carson gained national fame during the Santa Fe Trail era as a scout and military leader. Originally from Missouri, Carson settled in Taos and married into the local Jaramillo family. His house on Kit Carson Road near the plaza retains its distinctive Territorial style portal and is Read More…

Constructed 1910. The first Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe (AT&SF) train arrived in Las Cruces on April 26, 1881. The first depot was a wood frame building that was later moved on flatcars down the line to Al Tuna (present day Anthony, TX). The wood frame building provided passenger and Read More…

Constructed 1920. Lovington is the county seat of Lea County, it became a town in 1908 when settlers from east of the Texas line homesteaded the western edges of the Llano Estacado in New Mexico Territory. New Mexico became a state in 1912. Lea County was founded in 1917. The Read More…

Constructed 1990. The simulated Uranium Mining Museum is top notch! Retrace the experience of going underground and see what the Miners worked in everyday and learn about the rich historical legacy of mining and culture of Grants/Cibola County. The initial boom in the Grants area started soon after Paddy Martinez, Read More…

Constructed 1940. Nicolai Fechin was a supremely talented Russian artist who emigrated to the United States in the early Twentieth Century and ultimately settled in Taos about 1920. Fechin was trained in Russian folk arts and used his skills to create a unique fusion with the New Mexico folk arts Read More…

The Octavia Fellin Library houses a collection of New Deal art obtained from the Gallup Arts Center (a WPA Arts Center) when it was demolished to make room for the new Gallup City Hall. Documents at the library detail each work as well as the history of the collection. The Read More…

Constructed 1937. The Roswell Museum and Art Center was founded in 1935 through an agreement between the City of Roswell, Works Progress Administration (WPA), Federal Art Project (FAP), Chaves County Archaeological and Historical Society, and the Roswell Friends of Art. The Museum opened in 1937, deriving its initial support from Read More…

Constructed 1868. Little is recorded of Corrales during the first 150 years of Spanish occupation since it was not on the major trade routes along the river from Santa Fe; even as late as 1870 the census records only 141 households with 687 residents, nearly all were farmers, ranchers or Read More…

Constructed 1916. In 1937, UNM and the Works Projects Administration (WPA), working in cooperation to create an enhanced facility, embarked on a major expansion and renovation project of the Harwood complex. Designed by John Gaw Meem, one of the best known architects of the Southwest, the Harwood addition became one Read More…

homas Branigan Memorial Library is located at 200 E. Picacho Ave. on the corner of North Main St. and Picacho Ave. “Navajo Blankets Portfolio” by Louie Ewing and a small watercolor by Ramos Sanchez, “San Ildefonso Pueblo,” are available for viewing. On request one can study the “Portfolio of Spanish Read More…

Constructed 1995. The Exhibit Hall at the Mesaland’s Community College’s Dinosaur Museum houses a host of replicated and original fossils from tiny footprint casts to the 40″ long skeleton Torvosaurus, a rare carnivore relative of Tyrannosaurus rex which hails from the Jurassic period. The Museum’s focus is on the Mesozoic Read More…

Constructed 1903. A Journey Through Time in Quay County Experience the legendary past…Through collections located on three floors of the 1903 school house, containing a wide variety of artifacts and memorabilia from the surrounding area. Various rooms are based on themes with thousands of items on display. There are five Read More…