Albuquerque Museum exhibit 'Open to All' explores the Special Collections Library

A new Albuquerque Museum exhibit is paying a twin tribute.

One tribute is to the Special Collections Library. The other, more broadly, is to the flowering of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County library system. The exhibit is titled “Open to All: A Century of Access at the Special Collections Library.”

That title is a bit misleading. The Special Collections Library did not officially open until 1978, and that was at its current location at the corner of Edith Boulevard and Central Avenue NE.

On that site 100 years ago — on March 23, 1925 — the Main Library opened and it remained there until 1975.

Santa Fe artist Gustave Baumann designed and decorated the interior walls of the building, as well as designed some of the furniture, said Alicia Romero, the Albuquerque Museum’s curator of history.

The building was constructed in a Spanish Revival style, Romero said.

For 50 years at that location, the Main Library provided books, magazines and periodicals, presented art exhibits and offered public programs to the community.

In 1975, it moved to its current location, at Fifth Street and Copper Avenue NW.

Following renovations, the Special Collections Library was created and in 1978 moved into that building at Central and Edith, where it remains today.

“It’s a non-circulating library. That means it has rare books and maps (and other archived materials) that are used by researchers of all kinds. (The materials) are focused on archival collections about Albuquerque and New Mexico history,” Romero explained.

Teri Reynoso, branch manager of the Special Collections Library, said residents of Huning Highlands and East Downtown consider it their neighborhood library, University of New Mexico students like it as a study space, members of the public use its computers, some attend its speaker series and others learn to operate its working printing press.

In 1947, three decades before Special Collections opened, the city began operating a Bookmobile, which traveled to the East Mountains and to Alameda, then expanded services to the West Mesa and the South Valley. It gave people unable to get to the Main Library access to books.

“For me, one of the most exciting parts of presenting the exhibit are the librarians and other staff who have worked at that first library,” Romero said.

She mentioned Elsa Smith Thompson, who was the chief librarian from 1946 to 1966.

“Elsa oversaw the expansion at the Main Library. She, like all the librarians I researched, were committed to providing access to everyone who wanted library materials. So she was an advocate for freedom of speech and active against any form of censorship,” Romero said.

Another librarian of note was Jane Bradt, who tirelessly drove the Bookmobile for 10 years.

“It was a one-ton Ford Vanette Senior that could carry as many as 800 books and periodicals,” Romero said. “Jane Bradt was fearless.”

The successor to the Bookmobile was the Book Van, which she said serves people in assisted living residences.

In 1948, a second branch library opened — the Ernie Pyle Library on Girard Boulevard SE. The library system now has 19 branches.

A twice-a-year event guide lists the variety of programs at each branch, such as concerts, author signings and Reading to the Dogs. Event guide listings are also available at abqlibrary.org.

“I think it’s important to mention that for at least 100 years, funding for libraries — not just in Albuquerque but maybe nationally — has always been a struggle,” Romero said.

“Right now, with (planned) federal cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, there are millions of dollars in limbo.”

Albuquerque Museum exhibit 'Open to All' explores the Special Collections Library