About the Historical Society of New Mexico
The Historical Society of New Mexico predates statehood by more than half a century. On December 26, 1859, a group of twenty-five men in Santa Fe, among them army officers, clergy, merchants and territorial politicians, adopted a constitution for the society. Its first regular meeting followed on January 30, 1860, in a hall rented from Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, and two days later the Territorial Legislature granted it a charter of incorporation. The Civil War scattered the membership, and on September 23, 1863, the society adjourned indefinitely.
Nineteen years passed before David J. Miller and Louis Felsenthal revived it on December 26, 1880, with William G. Ritch as president. In 1885 the society opened a museum in the east end of the Palace of the Governors, the historic seat of government on the Santa Fe plaza. When the legislature created the Museum of New Mexico in 1909 and installed it in the west end of the same building, the two institutions coexisted there, in the society's own words, "sometimes under tense circumstances." After the 1922 death of L. Bradford Prince, the former territorial governor who had led the society, its museum operations passed to the Museum of New Mexico. The society turned its archival responsibilities over to the state in 1960, donated its remaining collections in 1970, and reincorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization.
Today the society is an all-volunteer body governed by a board of directors, with Joseph Britton serving as president for 2025 to 2026. Its stated mission is to "increase and disseminate knowledge of New Mexico and the Southwest Borderlands history through research, publications, and educational outreach," and to encourage the preservation of historic objects and property. It runs an annual history conference, an awards program, grants for individuals, organizations and institutions, a speakers bureau and a historic plaque program.
Collections and Research Services
The society no longer holds an archive of its own; the material it gathered in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries passed to the Museum of New Mexico and to the state's archives in Santa Fe, which is where researchers should look for it. What the society does produce is La Crónica de Nuevo México, its periodical of historical articles and news, with a back-file archive available through the University of New Mexico's digital repository. Members receive each issue along with reduced conference fees, discounts on historic plaques and eligibility for the society's grants. For a New Mexico family or property, our guides to free family history research and finding where someone is buried cover the church, land and cemetery records that matter most in the state.
Planning Your Visit
There is nothing to visit in the usual sense. The society has no museum or office open to the public and receives mail at P.O. Box 1912, Santa Fe, NM 87504. Its public face is the annual history conference and the lectures and plaque dedications it sponsors. The conference program, membership forms, award nominations and the speakers bureau roster are all at hsnm.org. Visitors to Santa Fe can see the society's old home, the Palace of the Governors, which still stands on the plaza.
Explore New Mexico's Historical Landscape
Use the When It Was app to discover historical businesses, landmarks, and buildings throughout New Mexico. See how your community has transformed over the decades.
Explore When It Was →