New Mexico

Historical Figures: Archbishop Lamy, Charles Bent, Billy the Kid, Kit Carson, Willa Cather, Flying Priest, Pat Garrett, Greer Garson, Geronimo, Conrad Hilton, Mable Dodge Lujan, Fred Lambert, John Gaw Meems, Robert Ollinger, Millicent Rogers, Will Schuster, Carrie Tingley, Lew Wallace
Museums: American International Rattlesnake Museum, City of Las Cruces Log Cabin Museum, Cleveland Roller Mill Museum, E.L. Blumenschein Home & Museum, Kit Carson Home & Museum, Farmington Museum, El Malpais National Monument, Fort Selden State Monument, Fort Union National Monument, Harvey House Museum, Historical Center For Southeast New Mexico, Lincoln State Monument, Las Vegas City Museum & Rough Rider Memorial, Miles Mineral Museum, New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, Old Mill Museum, Palace of the Governors, Pecos National Historical Park, Raton Museum, Roosevelt County Museum, Silver City Museum, Tucumcari Historical Museum

Miles Mineral Museum

When Fred Miles and his wife Gladys moved to Roswell, New Mexico in 1928, they began exploring along the Pecos River. There they found beautiful quartz crystals called Pecos Valley Diamonds. This was the beginning of a love affair with minerals and rocks that lasted 40 years and marked the beginning of the Miles Collection. The collection was displayed in a back room of Fred's Texaco service station on Second Street in Roswell. If you mentioned any interest in minerals or rocks, Fred would proudly show off his collection, which also included Native American artifacts.

In August of 1966, Fred Miles and Eastern New Mexico University entered into an agreement to purchase the collection, which included approximately 2,500 geological, archaeological and anthropological specimens. On Feb. 23, 1969, the Miles Museum was opened on the ENMU campus. The museum was originally housed in a space adjacent to Lea Hall. In 1984 the geological specimens were moved to museum space on the second floor of Roosevelt Hall and the Miles Mineral Museum was opened. The collection remained there until the summer of 1995 when renovation of Roosevelt Hall began. During the summer of 1997 the collection was placed on display in the present space. Most of the specimens on display today are from the original Miles Collection. Additional specimens have been obtained through donations and purchases.

Eastern New Mexico University
1500 S Ave K
Portales, NM 88130
(505) 562.1011
www.enmu.edu/services/museums/miles-mineral/

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