Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico

About us:

This stately home of James Phelps White, a Roswell landmark since it's construction in 1910, now stands amidst towering elms as the Chaves County Historical Museum; a reminder of turn of the century life in southeastern New Mexico.

With it's gently sweeping rooflines, and large porches, the yellow brick home is a grand example of the prairie-style house developed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

To step inside is to step back in time. The home is filled with an incredible array of antiques and artifacts, many contributed by generous Chaves County residents - things like an Edison Amberola phonograph that plays cylinder shaped recordings and a buggy footwarmer waiting to be filled with hot coals. Everywhere are likenesses of early prominent citizens.

A turn-of-the century kitchen has been painstakingly recreated down to the smallest detail, including vintage appliances like a wood and gas-burning cookstove, ice box, and pie safe. Hundreds of utensils of the day and a realistically stocked pantry complete the realism.

Upstairs is a gallery of ever-changing exhibits featuring subjects as varied as the History of American fashion and a display of "little adult" toys. The third floor houses the archives of the Historical Society, providing an abundance of invaluable rare books, photos, business and family records of early Southeastern New Mexico

For Chaves County residents, tourists, and scholars, the Chaves County Historical Museum offers a unique look at the area's past and retraces the path our fathers and grandparents followed on there way into the twentieth century.