ABQJOURNAL OPINION/GUEST_COLUMNS: There's Always Room for a Good Museum

Monday, February 07, 2011

There's Always Room for a Good Museum

By Jose A. Cisneros
Former Director, N.M. State Monuments
          The current flap over the proposed acquisition of the Hubbard Museum of the American West has raised the question of whether New Mexico needs another museum. It is reported that we have more museums than any other state. How many is too many? More importantly, we need to answer the question: what is the function of a museum?
        There is unanimity in defining the function of a museum. The question has many answers but primary among them is that museums educate. They also engage people with their history and culture and provide a sense of the country or state. They provide access to real objects. Given the problems facing our educational system in New Mexico, museums are invaluable in giving students hands-on access to our history and culture. How can we deny them that?
        To answer the question of how many is too many museums in New Mexico, it is well to review the museums we already have and examine their contribution to the state. The anchor museums, as I call them, are those created early on as the Museum of New Mexico. These are the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, the Museum of International Folk Art and the History Museum, until recently housed in our historic Palace of the Governors.
        All of these museums reflect the history and culture of the state, from its fascinating early art scene, to our Native American culture, to our venture into folk art and lastly one that relates the storied history of our state that even predates that of the greater United States. Aside from what they demonstrate, they are an important complement to our educational system, allowing students the opportunity to have tangible exposure to the culture and history of the state. Regretfully, in an important way, the location of these museums in our capital city places those people who live outside of Santa Fe and in the southern part of the state at a disadvantage, primarily our school children. This is where our field museums come in.
        Thanks to the foresightedness and generosity of previous legislatures, three other museums have been established throughout the state. The Natural History and Science Museum in Albuquerque features an important insight into the state's natural history. The Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, a short distant from the famous Trinity Site, provides insight into our venture into the atomic age of exploration and even offers weeklong space camps to our students. The Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces recounts our ranching and farming past.
        The current issue that we have enough museums misses the point that there is one key ingredient missing in all these museums. That ingredient is the story of our role in the American West, a major and important component of our long history. This is where the Hubbard Museum of the American West comes in. Its vast collection of Western artifacts and memorabilia serves to round out that missing ingredient. Equally important is its location in the eastern part of the state. Acquisition of the Hubbard Museum would nearly complete the museum system's geographic representation. To those who feel that one more museum is enough, they need to be reminded that the system has neglected the western section of the state!
        What is missing in the ongoing logic and argument about accepting the Hubbard Museum is a practical assessment of its cost and whether New Mexico can afford it. The requested annual allocation of approximately $200,000 is ridiculously low for a museum of this caliber. It also turns over to the state its collection of western artifacts valued at several million dollars. More importantly, the arrangement does not require the state to staff the museum, retaining the current staff employed by the city of Ruidoso. It is too good a deal to pass over.
        As to whether we already have too many museums, that's like asking whether we have too much good health! Our museums should be a sense of pride and not a burden.
        The Legislature should move on accepting the museum offer.
        Jose A. Cisneros is a retired National Park Service official and director of New Mexico State Monuments from 2000-2006.

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