Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico
Research Center (Archives)

Chief Archivist ---- Elvis Fleming

Administrative Director/ Museum Director ---- Roger K. Burnett

The museum itself is a 19-room three-story house built in 1912 by J. P. White and is the principal means of promoting this appreciation. The building is located a 200 N. Lea, Roswell, New Mexico. The historical society has tried to maintain the living conditions of the time the house was built by furnishing it with items appropriate to living in the early 1900s. We are constantly adding to our collections and creating new ones.  The second floor contains many displays of people and events that made Roswell and the surrounding area what it is today.

Right next door at 208 N. Lea is our new 7,500 square foot archive building, complete with community room and kitchen that can be rented for programs and dinners. The Historical Museum Archives provides over 12,000 photos of Chaves County, the Pecos Valley and Southeast New Mexico.  There is an abundance of invaluable rare books, manuscripts, audio tapes, business and family records. Among the 25,000 plus documents assembled providing valuable insights into the early 20th century are such items as diaries, letters, oral histories, high school year books, city directories, newspaper articles, maps, and other such sources of historic material.

The archives at the Historical Society for Southeastern New Mexico museum are far superior to anything within a 200-mile radius. It is a valuable oasis for information for the era intended. On the average we receive 9-10 phone calls a week requesting assistance in some type of research project.

The archives are made available to specialized audiences upon request to professional writers, semi-professional writers, serious amateur writers and researchers, newspaper and magazine staff writers or any other citizen of high-school age or above who wishes to conduct any form of research that is appropriate to this facility.

The archives are available to researchers and scholars Friday afternoons 1-4 PM or by appointment.

Phone: Museum 505-622-8333 - Archives 505-622-1176 - Fax 505-623-8746