New Mexico Historical Societies

This directory lists 3 historical societies, museums, and archives in New Mexico, including the Historical Society of New Mexico, which publishes La Cronica de Nuevo Mexico and holds an annual history conference. The list is thin, so this page leans on the state and university repositories in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces that hold the records themselves.

New Mexico's documentary record is the oldest of any state after Florida: Spanish settlement began in 1598, the Mexican period ran 1821-1846, the United States organized New Mexico Territory in 1850, and statehood came on January 6, 1912. The consequence for researchers is a long run of Catholic parish registers and Spanish-language civil records, but very late civil registration: the state did not require birth and death certificates until 1920, and compliance was not general until about 1930. Marriages have always been a county clerk matter, and land title descends from Spanish and Mexican grants as well as federal patents.

Featured Historical Societies

Major repositories in New Mexico

The New Mexico State Records Center and Archives (SRCA), 1205 Camino Carlos Rey, Santa Fe, is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. It holds the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, the Mexican Archives, the Territorial Archives, land grant and Surveyor General files, county records and maps, and it posts genealogy guidance on its site. Next door at 1209 Camino Carlos Rey, the New Mexico State Library keeps New Mexico newspapers on microfilm from the 1850s to the present (it will lend up to three reels for 30 days through interlibrary loan), microfilm of the Spanish, Mexican and Territorial Archives, Ancestry Library Edition for in-library use, and a genealogy research guide.

• UNM Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections, Zimmerman Library, Albuquerque: manuscripts, photographs and the state's main newspaper microfilm set; UNM also hosts New Mexico Digital Newspapers and the New Mexico Archives Online finding-aid portal.
• NMSU Library Archives and Special Collections, Las Cruces: the Rio Grande Historical Collections document southern New Mexico and the Borderlands, with about two million photographs; open to all Monday-Friday 9-4 during semesters, by appointment otherwise.
• Fray Angelico Chavez History Library and the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe): a closed-stack research library and an estimated one million photographs.
• Albuquerque Bernalillo County Library Genealogy Center, second floor of the Main Library, 501 Copper Avenue NW: New Mexico vital records, biography, family folders and city directories, with monthly research days staffed by the Albuquerque Genealogical Society.
• New Mexico Genealogical Society: publishes the quarterly New Mexico Genealogist and book-length extractions of parish registers, such as Albuquerque burials 1726-1854 and Picuris baptisms from 1750.

New Mexico vital records (and what to use before 1920)

The Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, 2554 Camino Entrada, Santa Fe (mail: P.O. Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM 87502), holds birth and death certificates from the 1920 start of statewide registration. The rules:

• Birth certificates become public 100 years after the birth; death certificates become public 50 years after the death. Until then access is limited to immediate family or those with documented legal interest.
• The non-refundable search fee is $10 per certified birth copy and $5 per certified death copy, payable to New Mexico Vital Records; VitalChek orders cost more.
• Death certificates are issued only by the Santa Fe office; local public health offices issue births only.

A free New Mexico death index for 1899-1949 is on FamilySearch. Before 1920 the substitutes are church records: FamilySearch has Roman Catholic registers for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and Diocese of Las Cruces from 1694 to 1957, the Archdiocese keeps its own archives at 223 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, and the Diligencias Matrimoniales (pre-marriage investigations, 1678-1869) are extracted and indexed. Marriage licenses and returns are at the county clerk from each county's creation; couples sometimes crossed into Arizona or Nevada to marry. Divorces are held only by the district court clerk in the county that granted the decree.

Land grants, patents and county deeds

New Mexico land has three layers of title. The oldest are the Spanish and Mexican land grants, community and private, which the United States agreed to recognize in 1848. Claims were adjudicated first by the U.S. Surveyor General (1855-1890) and then by the Court of Private Land Claims (1891-1903); the SRCA holds the adjudication files, the original Spanish and Mexican title papers (many in Spanish) and the 1847-1852 land title records, and the National Archives Rocky Mountain Region in Denver holds the Santa Fe land office records. The second layer is federal: outside the grants New Mexico is a public-land state, and the Donation Act of 1854, the Homestead Act of 1862 and pre-emption, timber-culture, railroad and mining laws moved land to settlers, with every patent searchable on the BLM General Land Office Records site. The third layer is local: once land was in private hands, every deed, mortgage and plat was recorded by the County Clerk of the county where the land lies, and that is still the office to visit. Remember that county lines shifted often, so identify which of the 33 counties (or their predecessors) held the land at the date of the deed.

Newspapers and city directories

The University of New Mexico ran the state's National Digital Newspaper Program project from 2010 to 2015, digitizing more than 200,000 pages of New Mexico newspapers from the late 1800s and early 1900s; more than 80 titles are now free on Chronicling America, and the same pages are hosted in UNM's New Mexico Digital Newspapers repository. For anything not digitized, the microfilm is in two places: the basement of Zimmerman Library at UNM and the New Mexico State Library in Santa Fe, which lends reels by interlibrary loan. The SRCA and the History Museum's Chavez Library also hold newspapers back to the 1860s.

City directories for Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Roswell and other towns are held at the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Library, the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico State Library; see how to use old city directories for what to pull from them.

Census and statewide indexes

New Mexico has census-type lists older than the United States. Spanish and Mexican colonial censuses survive for 1790, 1823 and 1845 (on FamilySearch), listing households by village with ages and often ethnicity. The first federal count is the 1850 census of New Mexico Territory (which then included Arizona), and a separate 1885 territorial census is indexed on FamilySearch and Ancestry. After statehood the decennial federal schedules continue to 1950.

• Indian census rolls for pueblos and reservations run roughly 1885-1940, with Zuni and Eastern Navajo rolls 1904-1935 among those online.
• The 1890 veterans schedule survives for New Mexico.
• The New Mexico death index 1899-1949 and the 1694-1957 Catholic registers on FamilySearch are the two largest name indexes for the pre-1920 period.
• The New Mexico Genealogical Society's DNA project and published extractions tie modern families to the original seventeenth- and eighteenth-century colonists.

Researching a house or building in New Mexico

The New Mexico Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, 407 Galisteo Street, Suite 236, Santa Fe, is the State Historic Preservation Office. It administers the State Register of Cultural Properties (nearly 2,000 listings of prehistoric and historic properties) and National Register nominations, runs the Official Scenic Historic Markers program along state highways, and maintains NMCRIS, the New Mexico Cultural Resources Information System, with a public portal for recorded sites and surveys. A property can be on the State Register without being on the National Register, so check both lists.

For an adobe or territorial-era house the deed chain runs through the County Clerk and may end in a land grant rather than a patent; for a later house it ends at a BLM patent. Our guides on tracing deed history and researching an old building apply, with the County Clerk as recorder. Sanborn fire insurance maps exist for Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas and other railroad towns and are in the Library of Congress Sanborn collection; the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives is the best source for historic street views.

Contacting historical societies in New Mexico

With only three organizations listed here, expect to work mostly with county and community groups, many of them tied to a land grant, a pueblo, a parish or a railroad town. The Historical Society of New Mexico's annual conference is the easiest place to meet county historians in one trip, and its members receive La Cronica several times a year. Appointment-only access is normal: the SRCA, NMSU archives and the Chavez Library all expect advance notice, and Spanish reading ability (or a patient translator) is needed for anything before 1850.

Additional New Mexico History Resources

• New Mexico State Records Center and Archives - State archives in Santa Fe; Spanish, Mexican and territorial records and land grant files
• New Mexico Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics - Birth and death certificates from 1920; fees and access rules
• New Mexico Historic Preservation Division - State Historic Preservation Office; State Register, National Register, historic markers and NMCRIS
• New Mexico State Library - Newspaper microfilm from the 1850s and genealogy resources, Santa Fe
• UNM Center for Southwest Research - Manuscripts, photographs and newspaper microfilm at Zimmerman Library, Albuquerque
• New Mexico Digital Newspapers (UNM) - More than 200,000 digitized pages of historic New Mexico newspapers
• Albuquerque Bernalillo County Library Genealogy Center - Genealogy reading room at the Main Library, 501 Copper Avenue NW
• New Mexico Genealogical Society - Quarterly journal and published church record extractions
• NMSU Library Archives and Special Collections - Rio Grande Historical Collections for southern New Mexico, Las Cruces
• BLM General Land Office Records - Federal homestead and cash-entry patents for New Mexico

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get a 1930s New Mexico death certificate?

Statewide death registration began in 1920, and certificates older than 50 years are public. Send the request form or a letter with the $5 search fee (payable to New Mexico Vital Records) to P.O. Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM 87502; death certificates are issued only by the Santa Fe office of the Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, not by local public health offices. The free FamilySearch death index for 1899-1949 will give you the exact date first.

Where do I find a New Mexico birth before 1920?

There is usually no civil record. Use Catholic baptismal registers: FamilySearch has Archdiocese of Santa Fe and Diocese of Las Cruces records from 1694 to 1957, the Archdiocese archives are at 223 Cathedral Place in Santa Fe, and the New Mexico Genealogical Society has published extractions for many parishes. Delayed birth certificates filed after 1920 are at the Bureau of Vital Records.

How do I research a Spanish or Mexican land grant?

Start at the State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe, which holds the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, the Mexican Archives, and the Surveyor General (1855-1890) and Court of Private Land Claims (1891-1903) adjudication files. Later transfers of grant land are recorded by the County Clerk; federal land outside the grants is traced through BLM General Land Office patents.

Which censuses exist for New Mexico before statehood?

Spanish and Mexican censuses of 1790, 1823 and 1845, the federal territorial censuses of 1850 through 1910, and a separate 1885 territorial census. The 1885 schedules and the colonial censuses are on FamilySearch; Indian census rolls begin in 1885.