Celebrating 50 Years of Art & History at Albuquerque Museum: 1967 - 2017

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (October 2016) – On September 7, 1967, a group of forward-thinking community members opened the doors of the Museum of Albuquerque at the old Albuquerque Municipal Airport (Sunport). The creation of the Museum during that turbulent time marked the desire for the preservation, sharing, and continuation of the history and culture that makes Albuquerque unique.

Fifty years later, the community celebrates the astonishing growth and impact of its municipally-owned museum. Currently located in the heart of Albuquerque’s Old Town in a showcase facility designed by Antoine Predock with expansion and renovations by Rohde May Keller McNamara (RMKM) architects, Albuquerque Museum is the home of 10,000 works of art, 27,000 historical objects, and more than 130,000 items in photo archives. The Museum is the rock-solid cornerstone of Albuquerque’s cultural community and in its short history has had unprecedented growth in the quantity and quality of its collections.

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, Albuquerque Museum is producing four collection guides to the permanent collection: Casa San Ysidro: The Gutiérrez/Minge House; Photo Archives Collection; History Collection; and the Art Collection. Scheduled to be published by the Museum of New Mexico Press in 2017, these four guides will present an overview of the rich and diverse collections at Albuquerque Museum with accompanying texts by scholars, and former and current curatorial staff.