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PHASE II,, 1994-1995

 Series

Scope and Content

From the Collection: The White Sands Oral History Legacy Project documents nearly a half-century of ranching activity in Southern New Mexico's Tularosa Basin. The Basin was home to over one hundred sheep, cattle, and goat ranches prior to World War II and the creation of the White Sands Missile Range. Through oral histories and supporting documentation, ranchers and their families offer their perspectives on work, social life, and the region in which they lived during the first half of the twentieth century.

Conducted over three chronological phases, the collection consists of audiotaped interviews, transcripts, photographs, and documents such as maps, drawings, and printed matter. The collection contains thorough holdings for the first and second phases of the project, but no materials from the final phase. The collection has been organized into five series: Project Documentation Files, Phase I, Phase II, Oversize, and Photographs.

Among the Project Documentation Files are various publicity materials associated with the project, such as press releases, publications, and captions from an exhibit on cowgirls. The bulk of the series consists of administrative records, such as flow charts, proposals, and forms.

Phase I contains interviews, both taped and transcribed, and related documentation. Among the topics discussed are settling in the Tularosa Basin, natural resources of the area, livestock, predators, finances, social and domestic life, cookery, child rearing, health, leisure, and the "Wild Man of the San Andres." The consultants included in this phase are Holm O. Bursum, III; Lewis D. Cain; Natalia (Nellie) Lucero DiMatteo; Anna Lee Guame; Bertha (Betsy) Lucero; Verena Andregg Mahaney; Florence Martin; Eloise (Dolly) Helms Onsrud; Mellie Crawford Potter; Alice Gililland Smith; Irving Virgil (Pat) Withers; Joe Pete Wood; and Joe Pete Wood, Jr.

Phase II contains interviews with Edna Anderson Baird, Leonard and Elma Hardin Cain, Louis Crockett, George L. Dean, Cora Cox Fribley, J. D. and Dorothy Miller, and Ria Lee and Ewell Sidwell. The topics covered are similar to those in Phase I, and include settling in the Tularosa Basin, natural resources of the area, livestock, predators, finances, social and domestic life, cookery, child rearing, health, and leisure.

The Oversize series consists of copies of several large maps removed from Phase I and II files.

The final series, Photographs, contains images relating to all the proceeding series. Included are contemporary site visit photographs taken in the course of the project. The bulk of this series consists of reproductions of images taken between 1900 and 1950 by the consultants or their family members. These reproductions depict the consultants' ranches, families, and activities.

Dates

  • 1994-1995

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English.

Access and Use Restrictions

This material may be examined by researchers under supervised conditions in the Search Room.

Extent

From the Collection: 6.7 Linear Feet

Repository Details

Part of the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Branson Hall
PO Box 30006
MSC 3475
Las Cruces New Mexico 88003 USA