It all began with two homeless miniatures. This one:
Joe and Anita Head’s “Santa’s Workshop”, renovated by Elaine W. Howe, 2015. Photo from holiday window display in downtown Roswell, 2015
…and an Opera House. They were entrusted into the hands of Elaine Wiggins Howe, an artist/art educator who is community-minded and a get-things-done-type person with a family of skilled artisans and craftsmen backing her up. And, she incidentally had in her past created handmade doll houses and furnishings, so these rather large and heavy “miniatures” were not out of her realm of interest. Elaine solicited the help of her friend Nancy Fleming, another local artist/art educator/museum person, who was known to transport everything imaginable in her minivan, as well as have a love of plastic tubs (necessary for transporting small things), and who loves projects….and stuff!
A PLAN is hatched. Elaine renovates Santa’s Workshop as well as Chistmasfies (new word!) a saloon donated to the cause and Elaine and Nancy secure the Main Street storefront window of the New Mexico Energy Library to display the miniatures for the community and our tourists over the holidays. The display was followed up by a Spring showing of these renovated room boxes:
The hat shop (Jack & Lannie Dunham), tienda (Anita Head), and Wagon Wheel Mercantile (Jack & Lannie Dunham), renovated by Elaine W. Howe in 2016
LITTLE by LITTLE word spread…. Early on we partnered with the Roswell Interarts Organization (RIO is the equivalent of a local arts council) so that any donations to this new adventure would be backed with non-profit support. Brinkman Randle, the RIO President and an art/artifact/object collector, got on board, as did some former miniaturists from the Los Pocos Locos group. It wasn’t long before the family of Rex and Laverne Smith also heard what we were up to - the Smiths had been instrumental in the success of the Los Pocos Locos Miniature Society in the 1980s and 90s, and their family was wondering how to best handle their parent’s finished room boxes and houses, as well as supplies, tools and unfinished projects. We were in need of space, particularly since a new component was being added to the mix: “curious collections”.
The first ‘exhibition’ of Santaramics. Thanks again to the Energy Library for the use of their windows; 2016
The CURIOUS COLLECTION component is a spin on the old-world “Cabinets of Curiosity” wherein a collector would have a cabinet (or room!) of natural and man-made oddities and artifacts. The possibilities are endless of what things people collect - and we all felt this had great potential to be the rotating equivalent to permanent miniature displays (in a future museum!). So the following Christmas, Tom Howe (Elaine’s very skillful husband) made two purpose-built “Santaramic” dislays which showcased Brinkman’s Santa ceramic collection - from mini mugs to cookie jars - and allowed us to start making up names for things. Santaramics: the Brinkman Collection. This isn’t the only collection Brinkman has, so stay tuned. BUT reminder! We are still needing SPACE! Luckily for the interim between 2016 and the purchase of our current location a year later, Roswell Tower (aka the Petroleum Building) afforded us reduced rent! Thanks Angie!!!
Brinkman’s donated shelves are filled with miniature-making treasures from the Smith family…in MCCM’s first home - office space in the Roswell Tower! Two other rooms in the suite included finished miniatures! We were all canvassing Roswell for a permanent space. P.S. We do not have gym memberships because we are always moving stuff around!
MCCM ….was easily the best name for our future museum: The Miniatures & Curious Collections Museum. Harley became our mascot early on as well since he was perched on a table in our first miniature acquisition. He’s painted metal and still has some wax residue on his leg from being stuck in place. He now roams free within the Santa’s Workshop miniature and his goo gets photoshopped out of pictures….most of the time! Now back to the need for SPACE (which will have a double meaning soon!).
MCCM embarked on a letter-writing fundraising campaign in May of 2017. Roswellites who have been generous to community endeavors in the past came through again with the down-payment needed to finance the purchase of the Cobeans Stationary & Furniture Store which had closed about eight years prior. (The Smith family also generously allowed their estate sale preview ticket sales to be split between MCCM and the Assurance Home!) The iconic look and spacious interior of this 1940s building, just a block west of the City’s downtown and Main Street, fit MCCM’s needs like a glove, and through Pioneer Bank (thanks Lanie & Alma) we got our SPACE!!!!! BUT like most aged buildings, it needed TLC! We called for help, and in addition to family and friends (thank you peeps!) we also had wonderful help on two occasions from Americorps, and former Roswellite and miniaturist Patty Buckley even flies in from Georgia to help! NEEEEEEDless to say, it took tons of work from August 2017 to June 2018 including, but not limited to: roof patches, floor tile removal, asbestos abatement, ADA bathrooms, exit corridor, plumbing, electrical, inspections, display furniture acquisition, painting, security system, internet…..whew!!!!!!!! Blood (maybe a little), Sweat (yes!), and Tears (only a few when we got the bills!). FUN? Yes! Definitely! But we were seeing it come together - and we truly thank everyone who participated - who we will list a bit later on.
SO, it’s now July 2018 and we are ready for a SOFT opening (we called it a PREVIEW) because the annual Roswell UFO Festival is happening!!! BUT first, it must be mentioned that two other IMPORTANT areas of the museum were also developed during this time - the GIFT SHOP and the PLAY AREA! Since a museum needs income to sustain its monthly bills, and since Roswellites could use a hip shopping venue, Elaine and Nancy traveled to Tucson in early spring to purchase the remaining inventory of a wonderful toy and novelty store that had changed over to selling furniture. Then we spent even more money (don’t tell our husbands!) at the public school district auction to obtain beautiful wood classroom furniture, carts, shelves and even wooden doll houses (how appropriate!) for an area that doesn’t even need a cute name because children ALWAYS make a bee-line for it no matter what!!! AND we organized our first ever curious collections exhibition - RETROBOTS!!! Elaine met a Carlsbad, NM, collector - Howard Vasquez! - who graciously chose a variety of his vintage robot and space toys, tubbed them up, and delivered them to Roswell! We found and painted old pedestals, had new plexiglass cut, and borrowed vitrine clips to make our first exhibit as professional as possible! NOW you get to see our preview pics (and see why SPACE matters!):
We’ve skipped over a few things - and not yet mentioned all the wonderful people who’ve helped, but we’re not even to the grand opening yet! The first order of business after that 2018 UFO Festival was to get our floors painted! Battleship Gray! And the north wall was painted Smokin’ Hot! The gift shop was moved over to the south side to join the miniatures/collections combo area, we decided to give the community another peek - so we held an open house FUNDraiser!!! Complete with cake walk and music!
We opened every weekend after our the preview, with the RETROBOTS show continuing through October. During this time (and for the third year in a row!) we also put up a display at the Eastern New Mexico State Fair fairgrounds in the education building! We never missed an opportunity to spread the word that we were serious about collecting miniatures and finding out what collections were out there. In October we christened the Smokin’ Hot north wall with our second curious collection exhibit - Masks from Around the World - and we held our first-ever workshop! We were inspired by Vickie Lovato’s cut felt raccoon mask, and the creations by participants were marvelous!
