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NEW MEXICO HISTORY MUSEUM
FY2020-2021 HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Portal to the past | It got easier than ever to glimpse the value of New Mexico history through the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives. Thirty thousand images became searchable in FY2021 via the University of New Mexico’s digital collections. That’s a good third of the estimated million photographic prints, glass plate negatives, photo postcards and other media in the archives. The New Mexico History Museum also significantly amped up its social media presence with the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Facebook page, which posts historic photos daily.
E. J. Westervelt, Engle Station, Santa Fe Railway, New Mexico, ca. 1895-1897. Photo courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, Neg. No. 035876.
9 educational programs delivered 3,494 schoolchildren reached 2 in-person and 8 online exhibitions $24,000 exhibitions and education support $28,000 grants funded $202,000 total private support
—Rob Martinez, New Mexico State Historian, Fall 2020
Contemplating collections | Looking
Back: Reflecting on Collections presented both an in-person exhibition and a 3-D virtual examination of how the museum acquires, stores, restores and features its collection items.
Above: Necklace, ca. 1885. New Mexico History Museum collection. Photo courtesy New Mexico History Museum. Left: Members enjoy a tour of the Palace Press. Photo © Andrew Kastner.
Extremely online | The New Mexico History Museum’s new website premiered in FY2021, featuring twice-weekly guided virtual exhibitions, videos, online collections and more. Highlights included easily accessible links to the museum’s Palace Press and Portal Artisans program, which welcomed Native American vendors back to the Palace in summer 2021.
History in the making | From May to September 2020, the History Museum assembled stories from New Mexicans statewide into The Quarantine Diaries Collection, capturing primary written accounts of the COVID-19 pandemic when the experience was most vivid.
