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Interviews conducted by the Oral History Program are based on a standardized list of questions (called a protocol) arranged in major interview categories. Select a category to see interviews and the interview protocol for that category.

Farm and Ranch Folks

Aguayo, Ernest

Aguayo's life and ranching days; the Government taking of the Aguayo ranch for the creation of the Alamogordo Proving Grounds, now known as White Sands Missile Range.

Armstrong, Bonnie

Rural farm life in the Quemado, N. M. area

Baca, "Joty" Doroteo

Baca has been a breeder of Spanish Heritage horses for fifty years in the Belen/Tomé Land Grant area, where he was born. Includes several discussions about his Spanish Heritage horses and those developed or claimed by others. Also discusses points of local history, including route of El Camino Real and the Oñate Trail through his neighborhood.

Ball, Greg

Ball outlines his current position as the Livestock Manager at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum. He discusses the active breeding program and the plans for the future livestock program.

Bernal, J. Pablo

Pablo Bernal was a rancher in Northeastern NM for 70 years (1912–1982). He discusses livestock raising and marketing. Also discusses his father's history, which included being forced off the Maxwell Land Grant circa 1897.

Black, Tom Bill

Black discusses ranch life and working on a ranch prior to a career as a livestock inspector for the N.M. Livestock Board. He describes his job in the field, and as a supervisor. He is also a graduate of auctioneer school.

Bonney, Santiago Jim

Grandfather ranched near Pastura, NM. Father herded sheep as a boy in the Las Vegas, NM area. Father inherited a ranch from his employer and built it up to include acreage in dry farming, and sheep and cattle. He describes growing up in Pastura.

Boulden, Altus

Growing up prior to WWII, WWII, farming and ranching in New Mexico

Boulden, Ann

Growing up prior to WWII, WWII, farming and ranching in New Mexico

Bounds, Ruth Harrington

Farming and ranching in western New Mexico. Consultant's family immigrated to the United States from Europe. Also details the consultant's roll as a school teacher.

Carrejo, Ernesto

Ranch life in Catron County, N.M. Also service in World War II.

Carson, John Nick

The history and scope of operations of Kit Carson Farms.

Castillo, Leborio

Siblings speak of childhood years on a small subsistence ranch in western New Mexico. Impact of the influx of homesteaders on the existing culture. Traditions associated with courtship.

Cauhape, John P.

Details family history and sheep ranching in southeastern New Mexico.

Clayshulte, Nelson "Dyke"

Attended local schools and graduated from N.M.A&M in 1941 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He spent most of the war years working for Stoddard Aircraft Radio in Los Angeles, during which time he met and married his first wife, Gloria Fountain. Shortly before the war ended they moved back to the Las Cruces area. He was a pecan farmer for many years and also served three terms as the mayor of Mesilla. Also, during the latter part of World War II he had some contact with prisoners of war working on various local farms.

Clayshulte Jr., John

Interview done for the exhibit on contemporary farming in the lower Rio Grande Valley, "The Inside Story of the Roadside View." This interview focuses on pecan farming.

Clegg, Nancy Lee

This narration explains how Clegg and husband developed and worked in their pecan orchard.

Cordova, Raoul J.

History and culture of the Hispanic village of Jarales, N.M.

Cothern, Lillian

Rural farm life in the Radium Springs, N. M. area

Davis, Genevieve "Ginny" Burris

Speaks extensively on rural education, family ranch and farm home life, ranching community life, and successful cattle breeding. Discusses family's businesses, including managing the College Ranch [Jornada experimental range] for New Mexico State.

Davis, Keller

Reviews parents' arrivals (1930s) and lives. Mostly focuses on Keller's career as a forage farmer and working at the Coronado Cattle Company. Today works on an all-natural beef project and interactions with racehorse industry. Was a charter member of the N.M. Farm & Ranch Heritage Institute and helped lobby for legislation that created the Museum.

De Ruyter, Edward

Mr. De Ruyter describes how he came to be in the dairy business in New Mexico, how he grew the business, operations during the year and speculation on the future.

Dean, Joy

Growing up on a farm that used POWs for labor, and rural living.

Dixon, Fred

Dixon's 45+-acre orchard in the Jemez Mountains near Cochiti Pueblo produces nationally known dessert apples, unique to New Mexico and grown only at Dixon Apple Farm.

Doyal, Lois

Father's veterinarian practice in Roswell beginning in 1926. Her education was in public school and college in Silver City, N.M., and Emporia, Kan. The bulk of the interview details the consultant's experience on a cattle ranch in the Caprock area of Southeastern New Mexico, 1943-1955.

Ford, Quentin

Ford talks about sheepherder wagons he remembers from his youth on the San Augustin plains.

Foster, Carl Lawrence "Larry"

Foster family ranching history in southwestern New Mexico and Larry Foster's career as a Beef Specialist with the New Mexico Cooperative Extension Service.

Franks, Juanita

Early homesteads of family. Means of earning a living by raising cattle, goats, pigs and growing apples, etc. Early schooling, household chores, making clothes, and recreational activity. Activities in World War II and founding of Bear Mountain Ranch School.

Fuller, Neil

Fuller grew up on the Fuller Ranch near Virden, N.M. He describes his life there and the work he did on the ranch. Tape Four contains several stories that had been passed to him by his uncle.

Gibson, Bessie Stiles

Mrs. Bessie Gibson relates her family background and that of her husband, Jim Gibson. She tells of her childhood in Texas and New Mexico. Most of the interview focuses on her life in the Farmington, N.M., area before and after her marriage.

Gnatkowski, Janice

After a brief discussion of how her forebears came to New Mexico, the interview covers the consultant's life on the ranch from her early childhood to the present.

Harvey, Lela

Rural living in Roswell area.

Harvey, Wit

Cotton ginning business in Las Cruces.

Harvey Jr., Phil

Hereford cattle business in New Mexico and the history of Harvey Herefords, Inc.

Hille, A.R. "Dick"

Hille discusses coming to New Mexico in the 1920s. He worked on a number of ranches in southern New Mexico, and homesteaded in the 1930s. During World War II he worked in the defense industry, but returned to New Mexico in 1945. He started a welding business and also purchased two ranches in southern New Mexico.

Holland, Mildred

Rural living in Clayton, N.M. during the Dust Bowl era of 1930s

Hopkins, Sara

Contemporary beef cattle ranching in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Interview collected for the exhibit, "Inside Story of the Roadside View."

Jackson, Joe

Jackson describes his work as a livestock inspector in New Mexico from 1960-1970.

Jarratt, Raymond

Originally a dairyman in Texas, Raymond Jarratt has been a New Mexico dairyman since 1956 when he moved from Texas to work for Valley Gold Dairy. He has been an independent dairy farm owner since 1958. He presently owns and operates a 350-acre dairy in Los Lunas and sells to Dairy Farmers of America. He discusses his ancestry, farm life when he was a child in Texas, rearing his children on a dairy farm, dairy production and care of milk cows, the superiority of Ayrshire cattle over Holsteins, and droughts. Also talks about the condemnation of his land by the city to secure acreage to expand their sewer plant.

Jones, Bill

Ranching and rural life in the early to mid-twentieth century in southwestern New Mexico. Bill Jones's family raised cattle and Panzy Courtney's parents were primarily goat ranchers. Bill and Panzy together raised cattle at Wind Mountain in far southeastern New Mexico.

Jones, George Meredith ("Dogie")

Includes his family history, starting with his Grandfather Kronig's arrival in Watrous in 1848 and continuing on with the consultant's experiences fighting the foot and mouth disease in Mexico in the late 1940s, working for thirty years with the Cattle Sanitary Board, serving as director of the Livestock Board (the Cattle and Sheep Sanitary Boards combined), and raising Red Angus cattle and quarter horses.

Jones, Panzy

Ranching and rural life in the early to mid-twentieth century in southwestern New Mexico. Bill Jones's family raised cattle and Panzy Courtney's parents were primarily goat ranchers. Bill and Panzy together raised cattle at Wind Mountain in far southeastern New Mexico.

Jones, R. C. "Punch"

Jones discusses his sheep and cattle business in Eastern New Mexico.

King, Alice

Begins with remarks about King Building at Museum, role in creating the institution. Shifts to history of the King and Martin families and their ranching and farming operations.

King, Bruce

Begins with remarks about King Building at Museum, role in creating the institution. Shifts to history of the King and Martin families and their ranching and farming operations.

King, Don

King family's dry land farming, ranching, propane businesses in the Estancia Valley.

Kirby, James W.

Kirby's job with the Bureau of Land Reclamation, specifically the Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) and the Rio Grande.

Laumbach, Andreas "Red"

Covers the arrival of his great-grandfather and grandfather in New Mexico in the 1850s and provides details about his relatives. He describes life on the ranch, his schooling at the Menaul School in Albuquerque, and the various jobs he held.

Laumbach, Casimiro "Ike"

Details consultant's days working on several ranches in New Mexico, including the Bell Ranch and the OX Ranch near Springer. Describes his childhood and memories of his father's ranch in the La Cinta Canyon area.

Laumbach, Margaret Miller

Daughter of immigrants—father from Austria and mother from Volga region of Russia. Her childhood on a subsistence farm/ranch near Maxwell, N.M. Her education (to 8th grade) in a one-room school, then she attended junior high and high school in Springer, N.M., and one year of business college in Missouri. Married George Laumbach; together they managed the Clayton Ranch near Springer from 1940-1982.

Lindbeck, Marinell and Lloyd

Consultant describes farming in the Radium Springs/Dona Ana area. Discussion regarding L.B. Lindbeck's inventions and patents on farm equipment that he manufactured in Las Cruces, N.M.

LoPopolo, Carlos

LoPopolo's life work tracing and preserving Spanish heritage horses. Through the New Mexico Horse Project, LoPopolo has done extensive research and DNA testing in an attempt to prove that the horses he has on his preserves are the direct descendants of the horses of the Spanish Conquistadors.

Lovelace, F. Roe

Sheep and cattle ranching in southern New Mexico.

Lujan, William "Bill" Bronson

Cattle and sheep ranching in the Clayton, N.M., area. Owning and operating a mercantile in Des Moines, N.M. Commentary on the Hispanic culture of Northern New Mexico.

Mann, June

Life on the family farm that employed POWs during World War II

Marquez, Consuelo

Discusses parents' immigration from Chihuahua, Mexico, to the United States. Father worked as a farm hand and itinerant produce peddler. Mrs. Marquez married a farm worker from Stahmann Farms and after leaving there in the late 1940s; they worked on several farms in the San Miguel area. Discusses some Mexican American traditions, foods, and use of native plants.

McBride, Joseph L.

Farm and ranch experiences as a child growing up in Socorro County.

McDonald, David G.

The McDonald Brothers Ranch, along with the other McDonald family ranches, was leased by the Army in 1942, for use by Alamogordo Bombing Range (a predecessor of the White Sands Missile Range). These ranches and others were eventually taken for permanent use by WSMR. The consultant's father's struggle to keep his ranch—including an armed, 1982 reoccupation of it—or to receive adequate compensation and the emotional fallout from their losses are described.

McSherry, Clara Jo

The history of an irrigated farm near Deming, N.M., homesteaded in 1909 by an Austrian immigrant family to the present time (1999).

Means, Jupe

History of the H Bar Y Ranch in Western New Mexico. Weather conditions, improvements to the ranch (roads and water pipelines), changes in technology that improved efficiency, domestic life, and personal history. Also discussed was the consultant's ranch in Estancia and his ranching business in California. Details of the consultant's involvement in founding the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum.

Miller, Donald

Miller discusses his work in the dairy program at New Mexico State University, and his military service

Mobley, Tom

Cattle and hay production in Southern N.M.

Morgan, Angie

Morgan describes her years growing up in Chamberino, New Mexico, and helping with her grandfather's farm starting in the late 1940s. She was educated in the Chamberino area and in Silver City, and worked as a teacher in Las Cruces.

Nakayama, Toshi

The Yabumotos were immigrants to the Mesilla Valley, purchasing a small farm near Chamberino in 1915. It was essentially a subsistence farm, although cotton was grown as a cash crop. Mr. Yabumoto died in 1929, leaving Koharu Yabumoto to farm and raise the children. Discussion of the farming community of Chamberino and family traditions. Toshi Yabumoto married Carl Nakayama, from a farming family near Doña Ana. The Nakayamas farmed on a large scale. She discusses some of the impact of WWII on their families.

Padilla, Placida

Siblings speak of childhood years on a small subsistence ranch in western New Mexico. Impact of the influx of homesteaders on the existing culture. Traditions associated with courtship.

Peña, Abe

Abe Peña talks about sheep ranching in west central New Mexico and the Hispanic history of the area.

Perez, Ernest

Perez family sheep ranch, wool industry, New Mexico sheep growers.

Pfingsten, Fred "Peg"

Life experiences as a manager of big New Mexican ranches, and operating his own smaller one. Also his involvement with various farm agencies in the state.

Porter, Irving

Consultant was raised at, and worked on the John Prather ranch during the stand-off with the Army over the land-grab of ranches for expansion of White Sands Missile Range in 1957.

Remondini, Ed

The history of an irrigated farm near Deming, N.M., homesteaded in 1909 by an Austrian immigrant family to the present time (1999).

Riley, J. W. "Bus"

Riley comes from a long line of cattle ranchers. He grew up in the Deming, NM area, and discusses ranching in southwestern New Mexico.

Sanchez, Adolfo

History and culture of the Hispanic village of Jarales, N.M.

Sanders, Genevieve Beatrice Lucero

Consultant recalls the POW internment camp located near the family home during World War II.

Segovia, Benjamin "Benjie"

Segovia's father worked on Stahmann Farms. Benjie recalls life as a child, growing up on Stahmann Farms, and gives insight into the everyday life, the treatment of the workers, and his feelings regarding the pecan industry at Stahmanns.

Sena, Raphael

The consultant's family can be traced back to Bernardino de Sena y Valle in 1693. Mr. Sena grew up on the family dairy farm in the Albuquerque, N.M. area of Los Ranchos. He describes his childhood, education and work history, and shares the results of his many searches for information on his ancestors.

Shelley, Terrell

History of the Shelley family and the 916 Ranch from the establishment of their homestead through four generations.

Simon, Gene

Simon describes his late start as a rancher, the uniqueness of his current ranch location, his years as a newspaper publisher and editor, and his eight years serving on the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum Board of Directors.

Sisneros, George S.

Farming and ranching in the area around Arabela, N.M.

Sisneros, Raymond

Discusses the history of Jose Maria Sisneros (born 1809) from central New Mexico. Jose Maria was a buffalo hunter and an entrepreneur. He took sheep to California in 1849, and also traded along both the Santa Fe Trail and Camino Real. He also held government contracts to supply military forts with corn and other food products. Mr. Raymond Sisneros learned of Jose Maria's exploits from his father and from the storytellers, the resolaneros, when he was a child

Sloan, Robert "Bobby"

The interview is about the cycle observed over a one-year period of farming.

Smith, Dorothy

Dorothy Smith, age 89, is owner/operator of a small, 30-acre farm/ranch operation in the growing urban area of Corrales, in the northern suburbs of Albuquerque. She operates, by herself, a small cattle operation, selling the calves annually, and growing alfalfa for winter cattle feed. It is large enough to maintain the agricultural land designation for tax purposes. In addition to the family ranch, she worked at KOB-TV in Albuquerque and was longtime Secretary-Treasurer for the New Mexico Advertising Federation.

Solt, Betty Sims

This interview provides background information and context for the interview recorded by George E. Sims in 1983 [in the Rio Grande Historical Collections, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N.M.]. The consultant's involvement in high school and college rodeo in the 1950s.

Stovall, Roy

Describes growing up on his grandfather's Aleman Ranch on the Jornada del Muerto.

Stutts, Rosemary Alvarez

Interview conducted to obtain a first-person account of the use of horses in farming for the exhibit "Traditions" (1998). Includes other details of Stutts growing up on her family farm near Salem, N.M. Tape Two is her memories of Italian and German prisoners of war working on the family farm during World War II.

Sultemeier, Peggy

Sheep ranching in various locales in New Mexico.

Treat, Antony "Tony"

Details family history of ranching in southeastern New Mexico from 1903 to 1995.

Vinzant, Willie G.

The consultant details his experiences in using horse-drawn agricultural equipment. Also discussed was the consultant's role as the Roosevelt County Agent during World War II when he administered the prisoner of war (POW) labor program.

Vocale, Emanuel

Covers Mr. Vocale's emigration from Italy to West Virginia and thence to Deming, New Mexico. It includes his memories of growing up on a farm, returning to Italy to marry, and his history as a farmer and wine-maker in Deming.

Webb, Harlan

Webb discusses his family life and his saddle making business.

Weber, Joe

The Webers are an old farm and ranching family in Northeast New Mexico. Joe's grandfather first came to region at Fort Union in the 1850s. He settled in the area, eventually establishing several businesses. Also discusses his [Joe's] life and family and the modern use of the old family farm.

Wilmeth, Stephen

Peter M. Shelley (Wilmeth's grandfather) legacy and ranching in the Cliff, N.M., area.

Woodward, Ara Janelle

Cotton farming in the Chamberino area.

Wright, Grace

The consultant's family owned an irrigated farm on the New Mexico/Arizona border.

Yriart, Martin

Sheep ranching in Southeast New Mexico.