by Ada Negraru, Continuing Education Coordinator
October is known for celebrating literacy through events such as the National Book Month, Media Literacy Week, Mystery Series Week, National Newspaper Week, and Dictionary Day, among others. October has also been traditionally marked as American Archives Month as a way to highlight the richness and uniqueness of archives, archivists and the archival profession. This year, The New Mexico State Library joined in the celebration through events such as an archives themed window display, participation in the second edition of the Archives Bazaar, and starting a series of Ask an Archivist live online sessions.
At the beginning of the month, staff at the New Mexico State Library and the State Records Center and Archives installed a joint display in the Caruthers Building upstairs lobby. The two-window display familiarizes visitors and staff with the world of archives, their place in everyday life, and what professional resources are available to archivists. The display explains commonly used terms such as “records,” “provenance,” “ephemera,” and includes tips for preserving family archives. The second half of the display focuses on resources for archivists and librarians available at the New Mexico State Library and beyond. Books such as “Alone in the Stacks” and the five volumes of the Archival Fundamentals series are part of the Archives and Archivists Professional Development Collection acquired with funds from the New Mexico Library Association. Held by NMSL, the collection is available for check-out or consultation in-person or can be requested via interlibrary loan.
The display will stay up until the last week of November.
On October 20th, 2025, the State Records Center and Archives organized the event Archival Oddities: Misfits and Mysteries in Collections, as the second edition of the archives themed series started in 2024. Repositories from the Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and the general northern New Mexico area to come together and share information about their collections with fellow archivists and the general public. New Mexico State Library’s table highlighted historical oddities in the Southwest Collection, old but popular issues of the El Palacio magazine, and a Jeopardy-style game that prompted passers-by to answer questions about New Mexico history. Current services available for free through the State Library to all New Mexico residents were also promoted, including the Family Pass, the New York Time subscription, and the upcoming Summer Reading 2026 theme – fittingly named “Unearth a Story.”
Started in September and coordinated by the NMSL Tribal Libraries Program, the series “Ask an Archivist: How to Care for Indigenous Materials” hosts five live online sessions in which libraries and archives holding indigenous materials can learn how to treat, describe and manage access to them properly by having specific questions answered by experts in the field. The remaining sessions will take place through February 2026.
Happy Archives Month!