Selected Stories

With over five hundred hours of completed interviews, we had to share some of the great stories we have gathered. Below are some of the gems we've collected (some appeared in past exhibits here at the Museum).

Know someone with a great story? Tell us about it.

	A Destructive Pig is a Dead Pig After the neighbor's hogs wreck their wedding gifts, his Dad goes on a shooting spree.
	A Hair Curling Experience The process a teenager and her mom used to curl their hair years ago.
	A Twister at the Farm Describing a tornado at the family ranch that took sheds and buildings but left saddles intact and a cow untouched inside the destroyed barn.
	A Very Good Day at the Roadside Stand Kid makes an outrageous sum selling vegetables from his uncle's pickup truck near Socorro.
	Blizzard of '32 Recalling sheep buried in the snow and the postmaster's unfortunate demise in Northeastern New Mexico.
	Bobtail the Yard Cat Mom and the family cat had a ritual when it killed gophers digging in the garden.
	Can't Stand Him, But He Got Us a Toilet Their Republican mother did not care for Roosevelt's New Deal programs, except for the one that gave them a molded toilet seat.
	Catching and Cooking Turtles A woman talks about her dad catching and roasting turtles to eat.
	Dust Cloud Means Dinner Time A ranch wife remembers climbing to the top of the windmill to watch for hubby and his crew coming home for a meal.
	Exploding Whiskey Trying to save precious cargo on a freight wagon between Socorro and White Oaks.
	Gotta Get a Tractor! Trying to persuade Dad that a tractor means more and faster farming.
	Here, Use This Teacher has to paddle an almost grown boy; his father gives her a quirt to use in the future.
	His Field Overflows with Water A dryland farmer recounts his experience the first time he tried irrigating from a ditch (near Hagerman).
	How to Witch a Well Dad swore by it and never drilled a well without the services of a professional.
	Humor and Storytelling Back in the day, telling stories was one of the only family entertainments and ways of preserving some family history.
	I Wanna be a Cowboy Remembering his first experiences as a cowboy and how it became his profession.
	POWs and Their Guard Look Out for Each Other A guard at a New Mexico camp during World War II remembers experiences with POWs who were supposed to be working in the fields.
	Raising a Joyful Noise The Kings recall "singing conventions" in the Estancia Valley where they met.
	Responding to a Higher Need Environmentalists criticize sheep ranchers for ruining the range, but they stretched it during World War II to answer calls for increased production.
	Sexism in the Rodeo Arena Remembering her time as a college rodeo star and the differing prizes for the men and women.
	Ways it Used to be Done Describing traditional Hispanic attitudes and customs in Northern New Mexico a couple of generations ago.
	Where Have All the Farm Fields Gone? Lamenting the urbanization and loss of farm land in New Mexico.