Author: Clayburn Griffin

The Lea County Museum is a non-profit organization that depends on donations from the community to operate. We have been fortunate to have great support from people and organizations around the area. This has allowed us to expand considerably and introduce a concert series as well.

There is still a lot to do and more we’d like to bring to the community of Lea, but we need your help to make our goals a reality. Here is a look at just some of the projects we have on our wish-list:

1. Developing several planned exhibits on second floor of 1931 Lister Building, $15,000
2. Completion of two bathrooms in Lister Building, $10,000
3. Completion of Hop Graham print shop exhibit on 1^st floor of Lister Building, $12,000
4. Repairing inside and stabilization of 1918 Sewalt House, $55,000
5. Repairs for Caprock Store and Reed House, $12,000
6. Digitizing photographs of Lea County Veterans Exhibit, $10,000
7. Creating introductory videos for Commercial Hotel and Lister Building, $5,000
8.  Purchasing and installing an elevator in the two-story 1931 Lister Building, $100,000
9.  Creating a large scale mural (30’ x 80’) depicting the history of Lea County on west side wall of the Lister Building, $80,000

Maintaining Current Operations

In addition to expanding and bringing on board new programs to entertain and education the community, the Museum relies on donations for its regular day-to-day operating budget. Every little bit helps and we appreciate your donations.

Gift Shop

You can also come into the museum and explore our gift shop which includes many books and artwork from artists in and around Lea County. You can browse some items from our gift shop online here: https://leacountymuseum.org/store/

Make a Donation Now

You can make a donation today online by visiting:

Donations are tax-deductible.

You can also come into the museum in person or mail a check to:

Lea County Museum
103 S. Love St
Lovington, NM 88260

You can also call us at 575-396-4805 to arrange a donation.

The Lea County Museum seeks a full time Executive Director to provide dynamic leadership and to direct planning, organization, staffing, and operations for the museum located in Lovington. Salary commensurate with skills and/or experience. Range is $32,000 to $48,000. Full job description available below. Open until filled. Applicants may apply by emailing resume and references to: LeaCoMuseum@leaco.net.

Job Description:

The Lea County Museum seeks an Executive Director to provide dynamic leadership and to direct planning, organization, staffing, and operations. The Executive Director will work closely with the Board of Directors to refine, develop, and implement a program for the Museum’s fundraising, exhibitions, collections management, educational activities, and community outreach. The potential candidate will be passionate about the historical relevancy of Lea County. Strengths should include administration skills, knowledge of the area, media skills and promote the mission of the museum.

Lea County Museum Executive Director Job Duties:

Historical and Cultural Exhibits and Programs

• The director will be responsible for developing at least one new exhibit per year.
• Plan at least four concerts hosted by the LCM per year.  

Educational

• The director will host at least 2 events/programs in the museum such as having authors discuss their publications per year. 

Develop educational programs/classes and partnerships of benefit to the school systems and/or community.

Communication

• Serves as spokesperson and chief advocate for the Museum.
• Establishes strong partnerships in the community. 
• Enhances the Museum’s public image to expand interest and support.
• Communicates information about Lea County historical aspects and relevancy to advance the purpose of the museum both externally and internally by a variety of means to include newspaper and social media including the quality of life throughout Lea County. 
• Communicates information to the board of directors.
• Communicates to LCM patrons’ information and donation requests.
• Develops relationships with foundations, corporations, and individual donors.
• Research and continue to publish books.

Preservation

• Preserves the LCM historical properties and develop a strategic plan to update, enhance and maintain infrastructure and grounds. 
• Seek grant opportunities for the LCM.

Cataloging, Curation and Development

• Catalog, curate and develop a database of collections and donations relevant to Lea County and regional artifacts. 

Coordination of Usage Space

• LCM will provide space for groups to host events such as school reunions, usage of the pavilion for dances.
• Develop and maintain a calendar of events coordinating with Lovington Chamber and MainStreet.
• Develop a usage agreement to protect LCM assets.

Fiscal Responsibility

• Maintain budget and fiscal responsibility.
• Manages and leads staff, volunteers, and consultants.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to lift 50 pounds with or without assistance.
• Ability to go up and down stairs. 
• Ability to fulfill all elements of the job description.

Job duties included but not limited to other duties as directed by the Board of Directors.

The Lea County Museum will be continuing its concert series with Steve Smith & Tim May coming up in September. Smith and May are a musical duo from Texas who perform a variety of acoustic music across many styles and genres.

The duo will be performing on the night of September 25th, a Saturday, at 8:00 PM at the Lea County Museum pavilion located outside east of the old commercial hotel. Bring your own lawn chairs for the best seats. Admission is free. Come out and enjoy a night of country and bluegrass music!

For more information contact the Lea County Museum at 575-396-4805 or leacomuseum@leaco.net. You can also learn more about the musicians on their website or Facebook page.

The Lea County Museum is hosting Bobby Flores and the Yellow Rose Band on Thursday, August 12th outside on the museum grounds, weather permitting. These musicians are a country and western swing band out of Texas featuring 3 fiddles. Bobby Flores was part of the Grammy award-winning team behind Freddy Fender’s 2002 album, La Música de Baldemar Huerta. He performed on violin and provided string orchestral arrangements for the album.

In August, Bobby Flores and his band will be entertaining Lea County locals at the museum with renditions of country and western swing music. Bring a lawn chair to get the best seats at the performance, though it might be difficult to resist the urge to get up and dance to the country western tunes. The performance will begin at 8:00 on August 12.  Admission is free.

You can learn more about Bobby Flores and the Yellow Rose Band on his website or Facebook page.

For more information about the upcoming event at the museum, contact the Lea County Museum at 575-396-4805.

The Lea County Museum is hosting a Virtual Run & Walk this summer beginning June 1 through July 4.  Registration must happen before end of day on Sunday, July 4th.  T-shirts will be provided to the first 100 registrants.

Awards and drawings will take place after July 4th.  Results will be sent through by email, phone or mail.

AWARDS

1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd will be given to male and female finishers in the following age groups:

• 10 and under
• 11-14
• 15-19
• 20-29
• 30-39
• 40-49
• 50-59
• 60-69
• 70+

ENTRY FORMS:

Available at Lea County Museum, 103 S. Love, Lovington, 88260 or download here and return via email to leacomuseum@leaco.net or through Facebook.