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The New Mexico History Museum is an excellent museum in historic downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. It opened to the public on May 24, 2009.
The New Mexico History Museum has over 96,000 square feet of exhibition space for permanent and rotating exhibits. They cover the history of New Mexico from ancient Native American cultures to the present. The museum campus includes the Palace of the Governors, which is covered in the entry about Santa Fe Plaza.
Visiting
The museum is open daily from May through October and closed Mondays the rest of the year. Adult admission for nonresidents of New Mexico is US$12 while residents pay US$7 (as of May 2024). Children 16 and under are admitted free of charge. Displays are in both English and Spanish. The main entrance is on Lincoln Avenue, just north of Santa Fe Plaza.
Palace of the Governors
My visit to the New Mexico History Museum started at the Palace of the Governors. It included period furniture as well as authentic artifacts from the Spanish colonial period. Some works of art depicted Spanish governors as well as events such as the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
Another section contains more original artifacts and has the floorboards and walls exposed, where visitors can see original foundations and doorways.
Continuing through the Palace of the Governors are exhibits displaying artifacts used in everyday life and farming, and works of art from the religious lives of Spanish colonists.
Modern Wing
The museum then continues through the modern wing, first with a display about the Spanish conquistadors and European settlement of New Mexico, then about Mexican independence and rule over the territory. There are also sections about struggles between settlers and Native Americans as well as stories about families who had settled there.
The next sections covered the Mexican-American War and annexation by the United States followed by the Civil War and Indian Wars in New Mexico.
The arrival of the railroad and the rise of tourism in New Mexico through the Fred Harvey Company system was next, before displays about New Mexico statehood in 1912.
One interesting piece in the collection is the death mask of Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (1878-1923). Next to the death mask is Villa’s revolver.
World War II
Continuing through New Mexico history, there were exhibits on the impact of World War II in the state. They covered soldiers staying at the Fred Harvey hotels on their way to boot camp and off to war as well as the contribution of Navajo code talkers.
The displays also covered Japanese internment camps and German and Italian prisoner of war camps located in New Mexico. There’s also an entire room dedicated to the top-secret Manhattan Project and its headquarters at 109 East Palace in Santa Fe.
Final Exhibit
Finally, there’s a room with photos of New Mexicans, their traditions, and famous landmarks with quotes on the wall. At the end is a map of New Mexico with caricatures of what’s found in each area.
