local coordinators hosting Journey Stories at the Harvey House Museum in Belen, after installing the exhibition.
	Mayor of Belen, Rudy Jaramillo at Ribbon Cutting Event for Journey Stories, with Harvey Girls, NMHC Executive Director Craig Newbill, and Volunteer Coordinator and past Mayor Ronnie Torres.

Traveling Smithsonian Exhibition Journey Stories will tour Belen, Aztec, Raton, Carlsbad, Ft. Sumner and Las Cruces!

On Friday, June 24, a contingent of volunteers will converge on the Belen Harvey House Museum prepared for a hard day?s work. They?ll spend the morning setting up the Smithsonian exhibition Journey Stories, preparing for the grand opening on June 25. The project will involve unpacking 14 crates of material (two tons worth) containing the seven kiosks that make up the exhibition.

Belen is the first stop for the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) travelling exhibition, which will visit six communities over the next year. The tour is sponsored by the New Mexico Humanities Council. After six weeks in Belen (through August 5) the exhibition will move to Aztec, Raton, Carlsbad, Fort Sumner and Las Cruces.

Complementing the Smithsonian material will be a local display of 44 antique postcards, donated by Belen resident Jim Sloan. The exhibit will be highlighted by a slide show/lecture, ?Wish You Were Here: How Picture Postcards Shaped Our Image of New Mexico,? by Dr. David Kammer. The lecture will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 25, at the Belen Public Library. Kammer and Dr. Jeanne Whitehouse-Peterson serve as scholars, working with local communities to host and plan complementary events.

.Journey Stories examines the intersection between modes of travel and Americans? desire to move freely. The stories include accounts of immigration and migration and of families relocating in search of fortune. They also include the harrowing journeys of escaping African slaves, Native Americans forced to move. And, not overlooked, fun and frolic on the open road.

This is the fourth Museum on Main Street exhibition brought to the state by the New Mexico Humanities Council. The Council provides funding, makes grants to support local events, provides scholars who consult with the local communities and other assistance.

For more information please contact Michelle Quisenberry at NMHC.

Journey Stories At Its Second Stop: Aztec, NM

Journey Stories departed Belen and made its way to Aztec. This Smithsonian Institution exhibition will have its Grand Opening at the Aztec Museum on Saturday, August 13. Thanks are extended to the National Guard for transporting the exhibit and to the volunteers who unpacked 14 crates and assembled the seven kiosks that comprise the exhibition!

Complementing the Smithsonian exhibit will be a series of events conducted by the local community. For the event schedule, please visit: www.aztecmuseum.org

or http://aztecmuseum.org/index1.html

After six weeks in Aztec--the last day being September 23--the exhibition will travel to Raton, Carlsbad, Fort Sumner and Las Cruces. This is the fifth exhibit funded by the New Mexico Humanities Council through the Smithsonian Institution's Museum on Main Street Program.

Previous Museum on Main Street Exhibitions in NM

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music, 2009-2010

Key Ingredients: America by Food - 2007

Between Fences - 2005 to 2006

Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future - 2004

**Now permanently housed at the New Mexico Museum of Space History, 1-877-333-6589 (toll free).

NMHC thanks our sponsors for their generous support and contributions for Key Ingredients: America by Food and Between Fences

The Albuquerque Journal, The New Mexico National Guard, The New Mexico Tourism Department, the PNM Foundation, and The Rural Economic Development Through Tourism have all made significant contributions that have helped the Museum on Main Street program a success in our state. Their generous support has helped increase awareness of our state's museums.

Museum on Main Street

Museum on Main Street supports humanities programs in museums serving rural communities throughout New Mexico. Museum on Main Street, or MOMS, is a unique alliance of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), the Federation of State Humanities Councils, state humanities councils across the country, and cultural organizations in small, rural communties.

The overarching aim of the MoMS program is to encourage communities to get involved in developing their own local programs that complement the themes of the exhibit. In addition to developing programs at the local level, MoMS has the necessary tools to invigorate your museum's presence in the community. The New Mexico Humanities Council is essential in bridging the national and local connection. We provide a variety of humanities based programs from which to choose, to include a project scholar to help with the development of locally based projects, promotion of the exhibition at the state level, program planning, installation workshops, and much much more!!!

For more information please contact K. Michelle Quisenberry at (505) 277-4151.

Click here to visit the MoMS web site »