Get a glimpse of artifacts and antiques from the early 1800s and 1900s
The New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum will be hosting its annual Antique Treasure Day on January 25, 2015 from noon to 4 p.m.
The museum owns a collection of 10,000 artifacts that are housed in an 8,000 square foot, humidity controlled storage room. These artifacts are rarely seen by the public, but once a year the museum’s collection room is open to the public through guided tours.
Holly Radke, Collections Manager and Registrar for the museum, says there is an enormous amount of historical significance in their collections room. She says they have items that date back to the early 1800s that were used into the early 1900s.
The items in the collection room are the heirlooms and artifacts of New Mexico residents including several farming and ranching families from throughout the state. Some of the rarely seen artifacts include saddles, textiles, furniture, clothing, fine china, household, horse drawn wagons and buggies, along with ranch, dairy and farming equipment of the era. The museum also has a few Spanish Colonial artifacts as well as ancient arrowheads, pottery and basketry from the indigenous tribes of the state.
Other activities for the day include a “Stump the Curator” presentation in the theatre. People can bring one item to the museum and challenge a panel of experts to identify the object. The museum will also be sharing some oddities from the collections room and will give the public the opportunity to identify them as well. The panel of experts will be available for questions and will offer advice to the public on how they can preserve their own artifacts and family heirlooms at home.
Those interested in donating items to the museum can learn from the resident curators about the process of donating their artifacts along with how those objects will be cared for and preserved at the museum. The discussions will also cover how artifacts are chosen artand used in the museum’s exhibits.
The museum will also host several living history characters that will be scattered throughout the premises educating visitors about important historical figures in New Mexico.
Each tour will be about 30 minutes and there will be one entering the collection room every 15 minutes. Tours are on a first come-first serve basis, with 14 people allowed per group. People are asked not to touch the artifacts during the tour.
Admission to the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum is $5 for adults, $3 for senior citizens (60 and over) and $2 for children ages 5 to 17. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday thru Saturday, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is located at 4100 Dripping Springs Road.
For more information visit nmfarmandranchmusuem.org or call (575) 522-4100.