NEW MEXICO FARM & RANCH HERITAGE MUSEUM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Consultant Was the Doña Ana County Agent During World War II and Administered the Prisoner of War Labor Program in the County.
Baca has been a breeder of Spanish Heritage horses for fifty years in the Belen/Tomé Land Grant area, where he was born. Includes several discussions about his Spanish Heritage horses and those developed or claimed by others. Also discusses points of local history, including route of El Camino Real and the Oñate Trail through his neighborhood.
Ball outlines his current position as the Livestock Manager at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum. He discusses the active breeding program and the plans for the future livestock program.
Barg was taken prisoner in North Africa in 1943, was imprisoned in the United States until 1946. He spent time in Camps Roswell and Artesia.
Mrs. Bessie Gibson relates her family background and that of her husband, Jim Gibson. She tells of her childhood in Texas and New Mexico. Most of the interview focuses on her life in the Farmington, N.M., area before and after her marriage.
This interview provides background information and context for the interview recorded by George E. Sims in 1983 [in the Rio Grande Historical Collections, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N.M.]. The consultant's involvement in high school and college rodeo in the 1950s.
Black discusses ranch life and working on a ranch prior to a career as a livestock inspector for the N.M. Livestock Board. He describes his job in the field, and as a supervisor. He is also a graduate of auctioneer school.
Briefly describes his personal history. The majority of the interview describes his tenure on the Board of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Foundation (NMF& RHF). He also served as a legal representative for the Foundation.
Details Dominguez's duty as a prisoner of war camp guard at the Hatch branch camp during World War II. He and his two brothers were drafted into WWII. He discusses the draft board's policies in Deming, New Mexico. Childs describes hemp production and manufacture of rope near Fabens, Texas, before and during the war. Homer Child's imprisonment in Stalag 17B, and his duties while he was imprisoned.
Job Titles:
- Admin Assistant
- Executive Secretary
This narration explains how Clegg and husband developed and worked in their pecan orchard.
Dr. Clemmons, who has a doctoral degree in counseling psychology, was an early member of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Foundation Board. Mrs. Clemmons has worked as registrar at Eastern New Mexico University and as a consultant training student teachers. The Clemmonses have managed the family ranch-in her family since 1906-since her father's death in 1971.
Dr. Clemmons, who has a doctoral degree in counseling psychology, was an early member of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Foundation Board. Mrs. Clemmons has worked as registrar at Eastern New Mexico University and as a consultant training student teachers. The Clemmonses have managed the family ranch-in her family since 1906-since her father's death in 1971.
Job Titles:
- Graphic Designer
- EXHIBITS & RESEARCH
Job Titles:
- History and Culture of the Hispanic Village of Jarales, N.M.
Job Titles:
- FACILITIES
- Maintenance Specialist
Reviews parents' arrivals (1930s) and lives. Mostly focuses on Keller's career as a forage farmer and working at the Coronado Cattle Company. Today works on an all-natural beef project and interactions with racehorse industry. Was a charter member of the N.M. Farm & Ranch Heritage Institute and helped lobby for legislation that created the Museum.
Dr. de Maio discusses his service as a doctor in the Italian Air Force in North Africa early in World War II, his imprisonment as a POW at Camp Hereford, Tex., and his work in an Italian Service Unit in San Pedro, Calif. Also reviews post-war period when he immigrated to the U.S. and became licensed to practice medicine in New Mexico.
Mr. De Ruyter describes how he came to be in the dairy business in New Mexico, how he grew the business, operations during the year and speculation on the future.
Job Titles:
- Museum Experience Supervisor
Briefly discusses her personal history. The majority of the interview describes her involvement with the establishment of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.
Dixon's 45+-acre orchard in the Jemez Mountains near Cochiti Pueblo produces nationally known dessert apples, unique to New Mexico and grown only at Dixon Apple Farm.
Details Dominguez's duty as a prisoner of war camp guard at the Hatch branch camp during World War II. He and his two brothers were drafted into WWII. He discusses the draft board's policies in Deming, New Mexico. Childs describes hemp production and manufacture of rope near Fabens, Texas, before and during the war. Homer Child's imprisonment in Stalag 17B, and his duties while he was imprisoned.
An Artesia resident's perspective on a nearby prisoner of war camp during World War II.
Father's veterinarian practice in Roswell beginning in 1926. Her education was in public school and college in Silver City, N.M., and Emporia, Kan. The bulk of the interview details the consultant's experience on a cattle ranch in the Caprock area of Southeastern New Mexico, 1943-1955.
Ralph Dunlap discusses his family history of homesteading on the eastern plains of New Mexico after the turn of the century. He describes his work of 30 years (1952-1982) as County Agent in Lincoln County. He worked to improve apple and wool production, and in later years worked with youth programs (4-H) and economic development. He details his involvement, as a Foundation Board member, in the founding of New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum.
Forehand family history, including settlement in New Mexico. The interview also covers the consultant's work in founding the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.
Use of German and Italian prisoners of war as farm laborers during World War II. Use of other types of farm labor before and after World War II. Description of the Franzoy farm when consultant's father bought the land in 1918.
Fuller grew up on the Fuller Ranch near Virden, N.M. He describes his life there and the work he did on the ranch. Tape Four contains several stories that had been passed to him by his uncle.
Job Titles:
- Consultant Recalls the POW Internment Camp Located Near the Family Home During World War II.
Grúber, taken prisoner in North Africa in 1943, was imprisoned in the United States until the summer of 1946. He spent one year at Camp Roswell where he worked harvesting cotton.
Hawkins describes his career as a cowboy, his years spent with the circus, and the arts of trick roping and whip cracking.
E. Earl Hickam briefly discusses his family and early childhood before talking at length about his father's use of Italian prisoners of war (POWs) in the Dawn, Tex., area and of working with German POWs in the Albuquerque, N.M., area during World War II.
Originally a dairyman in Texas, Raymond Jarratt has been a New Mexico dairyman since 1956 when he moved from Texas to work for Valley Gold Dairy. He has been an independent dairy farm owner since 1958. He presently owns and operates a 350-acre dairy in Los Lunas and sells to Dairy Farmers of America. He discusses his ancestry, farm life when he was a child in Texas, rearing his children on a dairy farm, dairy production and care of milk cows, the superiority of Ayrshire cattle over Holsteins, and droughts. Also talks about the condemnation of his land by the city to secure acreage to expand their sewer plant.
Job Titles:
- Public Information / Media Relations
Daughter of immigrants-father from Austria and mother from Volga region of Russia. Her childhood on a subsistence farm/ranch near Maxwell, N.M. Her education (to 8th grade) in a one-room school, then she attended junior high and high school in Springer, N.M., and one year of business college in Missouri. Married George Laumbach; together they managed the Clayton Ranch near Springer from 1940-1982.
Her recollections of the Japanese interned at Camp Lordsburg, and later the German and Italian prisoners of war held there.
Job Titles:
- Executive Administrative Assistant
- ADMINISTRATION
Job Titles:
- Instructional Coordinator
Discusses parents' immigration from Chihuahua, Mexico, to the United States. Father worked as a farm hand and itinerant produce peddler. Mrs. Marquez married a farm worker from Stahmann Farms and after leaving there in the late 1940s; they worked on several farms in the San Miguel area. Discusses some Mexican American traditions, foods, and use of native plants.
McCaslin describes his work as an agronomist and soil fertility specialist, and projects he has worked on at New Mexico State University.
The McDonald Brothers Ranch, along with the other McDonald family ranches, was leased by the Army in 1942, for use by Alamogordo Bombing Range (a predecessor of the White Sands Missile Range). These ranches and others were eventually taken for permanent use by WSMR. The consultant's father's struggle to keep his ranch-including an armed, 1982 reoccupation of it-or to receive adequate compensation and the emotional fallout from their losses are described.
After giving some background information on his and his wife's family histories and on his agricultural experience, most of the interview centers on his work as a state legislator, where he chaired the Agriculture Committee and wrote the legislation creating the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.
Responses to standardized prisoner of war project questionnaire for camp workers; some questions from farm and ranch folks questionnaire for Dorothy. Regards Italian POW camp south of Hereford and their jobs at the camp.
Prisoners of war from Camp Lordsburg, and a branch camp in Duncan, Arizona, were transported by Merrell and his father to area farms and ranches.
Morgan describes her years growing up in Chamberino, New Mexico, and helping with her grandfather's farm starting in the late 1940s. She was educated in the Chamberino area and in Silver City, and worked as a teacher in Las Cruces.
Mortensen's work as a carpenter's helper installing cabinets in the prisoner of war (POW) compound at Lordsburg and his experiences driving Italian prisoners to Virden, where they worked cleaning irrigation ditches and picking potatoes and onions.
Martha's childhood memory of German prisoners of war working on irrigation ditches during World War II. Discusses a neighbor's memory of working alongside Italian prisoners of war who sang as they worked in the field. Jesse picked cotton alongside Italian and German POWs on a Texas farm where his father was a foreman during WWII.
Martha's childhood memory of German prisoners of war working on irrigation ditches during World War II. Discusses a neighbor's memory of working alongside Italian prisoners of war who sang as they worked in the field. Jesse picked cotton alongside Italian and German POWs on a Texas farm where his father was a foreman during WWII.
The Yabumotos were immigrants to the Mesilla Valley, purchasing a small farm near Chamberino in 1915. It was essentially a subsistence farm, although cotton was grown as a cash crop. Mr. Yabumoto died in 1929, leaving Koharu Yabumoto to farm and raise the children. Discussion of the farming community of Chamberino and family traditions. Toshi Yabumoto married Carl Nakayama, from a farming family near Doña Ana. The Nakayamas farmed on a large scale. She discusses some of the impact of WWII on their families.
Use of German and Italian prisoners of war at the Navar family dairy during World War II. Housing for POWs at the former Civilian Conservation Corps camp on Zaragosa Road. Describes duties of POW workers.
Pablo Bernal was a rancher in Northeastern NM for 70 years (1912-1982). He discusses livestock raising and marketing. Also discusses his father's history, which included being forced off the Maxwell Land Grant circa 1897.
Patterson was a farmer/rancher and a bank employee at Roswell, N.M., during World War II. He employed German prisoners of war to plant and pick onions on his farmland southeast of Roswell. The prisoners and guards came from Orchard Park POW camp near Roswell. Patterson describes rationing during World War II and discusses various sources of farm labor.
Job Titles:
- Instructional Coordinator
Consultant was raised at, and worked on the John Prather ranch during the stand-off with the Army over the land-grab of ranches for expansion of White Sands Missile Range in 1957.
Session One: Blacksmithing: Billy began at an early age in his grandfather's blacksmith shop. This session covers his blacksmith career to date, including the years he has worked as the blacksmith for the Museum. Session Two:Cowboy Years: Billy has worked as a cowboy on various ranches in New Mexico. This session outlines his daily activities, working conditions and other cowboys he has met over the years.
The discussion is limited to Mrs. Ragland's experiences and impressions gained while working at a prisoner of war camp near Lordsburg, New Mexico, where she worked in the Ordnance and Motor Pool Division. There is a brief description of her husband's duties guarding the prisoners as they worked in the fields.
Brief biographical sketch of Mrs. Riddle, born of Irish immigrant parents, she was one of first 100 women appointed to the WAVES during World War II. She moved with her husband to Las Cruces in 1947. Talks briefly of conditions in Las Cruces upon her arrival. Interview focuses on her knowledge of Dr. Stephen's work in developing a heritage institute during the time they worked together at the Department of Agriculture from 1972 (when Dr. Stephens was appointed director) until her retirement in 1981.
Job Titles:
- Southern Region Facilities Manager
Job Titles:
- History and Culture of the Hispanic Village of Jarales, N.M.
Grandfather ranched near Pastura, NM. Father herded sheep as a boy in the Las Vegas, NM area. Father inherited a ranch from his employer and built it up to include acreage in dry farming, and sheep and cattle. He describes growing up in Pastura.
Former German prisoners of war who were detained in New Mexico during World War II. Schmid was held at Camp Las Cruces and worked primarily picking cotton. Poethig was held at the Orchard Park prisoner of war camp near Roswell, N.M. As a non-commissioned officer, Poethig volunteered as a detail leader of POWs working as agricultural laborers.
The consultant's family can be traced back to Bernardino de Sena y Valle in 1693. Mr. Sena grew up on the family dairy farm in the Albuquerque, N.M. area of Los Ranchos. He describes his childhood, education and work history, and shares the results of his many searches for information on his ancestors.
Job Titles:
- History of the Shelley Family and the 916 Ranch from the Establishment of Their Homestead through Four Generations.
Discusses the history of Jose Maria Sisneros (born 1809) from central New Mexico. Jose Maria was a buffalo hunter and an entrepreneur. He took sheep to California in 1849, and also traded along both the Santa Fe Trail and Camino Real. He also held government contracts to supply military forts with corn and other food products. Mr. Raymond Sisneros learned of Jose Maria's exploits from his father and from the storytellers, the resolaneros, when he was a child
Job Titles:
- Optometrist Stationed at Deming Army Airfield During World War II. Provided Vision Screening for German Prisoners of War from Camp Lordsburg.
Interview conducted to obtain a first-person account of the use of horses in farming for the exhibit "Traditions" (1998). Includes other details of Stutts growing up on her family farm near Salem, N.M. Tape Two is her memories of Italian and German prisoners of war working on the family farm during World War II.
A brief summary of Thal's personal history. Primary focus of the interview is on her part in the founding of the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Researcher and Professor of Plant
Rural living as a schoolteacher and mother through hard times in Indiana. [An active volunteer at the Museum until she "retired" at age 99, this interview was conducted as an assignment for an oral history class at New Mexico State University.]
Job Titles:
- Visitor Services Custodian
The consultant details his experiences in using horse-drawn agricultural equipment. Also discussed was the consultant's role as the Roosevelt County Agent during World War II when he administered the prisoner of war (POW) labor program.
Covers Mr. Vocale's emigration from Italy to West Virginia and thence to Deming, New Mexico. It includes his memories of growing up on a farm, returning to Italy to marry, and his history as a farmer and wine-maker in Deming.
The Webers are an old farm and ranching family in Northeast New Mexico. Joe's grandfather first came to region at Fort Union in the 1850s. He settled in the area, eventually establishing several businesses. Also discusses his [Joe's] life and family and the modern use of the old family farm.