CITY OF GRANTS, N.M.
The Cibola County Historical Society was created during the summer of 2008. “Our goal is to make record of all the history of this area, all of Cibola County, which was before Valencia County, and before that it was just part of the State of New Mexico. We’d like to keep the record of all those days, years, in such a manner that people can go back and realize what an interesting area and what admirable people settled here,” shared CCHS board member/secretary Jonnie Head, who moved to the area in 1957 and joined CCHS in 2017.
The Cibola County Historical Society moved into the building they currently reside in, Mother Whiteside Memorial Building, located at 525 West High Street, about three years ago, and the Cibola County Historical Museum was started about a year ago. The COVID-19 pandemic has kept museum operations shut down for the majority of that time, but the museum is now open again. However, due to a lack of volunteers, the museum is only open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The CCHS board is also at the museum every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to complete work shop-type tasks, such as working on displays/exhibits, cleaning, indexing, filing, etc. Interested community members can, however, stop by the museum and call any of the numbers listed on the front door to see if any of the board members are available to stop by and let them in. “We’re very willing,” stated CCHS Secretary Head. “There’s not very many of us, but we’re available to get them in as much as we can.”
There a few different roles interested community members can step into to get involved with the society and the museum. The first is the role of volunteer, whose responsibilities are mainly to “keep the door open,” and familiarize themselves with the museum enough to be able to show people around a little and make them comfortable, said Head. The second role is being a society member, which interested individuals have to fill out an application for. Applications are available at the museum and can be picked up or requested to be mailed. CCHS encourages and welcomes involvement in the form of the previously mentioned roles, but the one they welcome the most is the third role – visitor.
When asked how community members can best support the society and the museum, Head said, “Well, they can always donate money, but the best thing they can do is visit. First of all, visitors can say, ‘What about the murder in wherever?’ Or ‘What about the year that we did so and so?’ ‘What about…’ And maybe we’ve forgotten it or maybe we’ve missed it or whatever. The more visitors we have, particularly local visitors, the more things that we will think of or learn about, that we can then include in the museum. So I think that’s the most important thing right now, getting people in there so they realize what we’re trying to do.”
CCHS board member/treasurer Jackie Heath, who came to the area in 1956 and has been serving on the board since 2010, shared more about what the society is trying to do, adding, “It’s preserving the history of the area… It’s educational, along with being historic.” One way the society is currently working to preserve local history is by digitizing newspaper records recently donated to the society. Current Grants City Manager Donald Jaramillo and former Cibola Beacon owner donated newspaper records dating from 1946 to 2018, so CCHS is working to contract someone to digitize the records. Some of the records are already on Microfiche, and once they are all digitized, they will be available to the public on the Cibola County Historical Society website.
CCHS is also in the process of applying to grants to help with the digitizing process and allow them to continue working to preserve local history. The society was preparing to submit a grant application last week and are going to start preparing to submit another in April. Treasurer Heath spoke on the benefits of additional funding, adding that CCHS currently resides in Mother Whiteside Memorial Building rent-free since the City of Grants owns the building. Should the city ever decide or reach or point where they can no longer support the museum, CCHS wants to be able to remain financially viable. CCHS currently receives regular funding from the Lodger’s Tax Board and received a grant from Continental Divide Electrical Cooperative in the past, so further funding would allow them to continue upkeep of exhibits, programs, record preservation, public access and availability, and possibly service upgrades to the museum building.
Heath shared that history preservation seems as important as ever, especially in light of the ongoing situation in Ukraine, who Heath noted has probably had most of their history records destroyed by now. Head chimed in, highlighting the importance of history by adding, “You know, if you don’t know your history, you can’t appreciate what has gone on before and learn from those mistakes or learn from the things that were good ideas. I think history is just not valued as much as it should be.”
When asked why the community should get involved with the museum and society, Heath pointed out two benefits – being able to share the story of our lives and being able to relate to each other. “Everybody’s got a story,” said Heath, “and so why they get involved is to come tell us your story and have it there for somebody else… You’ve just got so many different cultures and they’ve all blended and everything, and you know, coming together at the museum and sharing your history, my history, is going to help us get along.” Head also mentioned the preservation of family histories and said that is a program the museum hopes to continue developing.
Anyone can make donations or bring their donations to the Cibola County Historical Museum. Donations are, however, brought to the board for approval, this is because the board is looking for “historical items,” not “garage sale items,” mentioned Heath. Donators also have to sign a contract surrendering ownership of donations to the museum so that relatives cannot make a claim on items later on. Heath also wanted to point out that while mining is a significant part of the area’s history, and the museum does want to showcase that, they also want to make sure not to duplicate exhibits or step on the toes of their neighbors, the New Mexico Mining Museum next door.