About the Collection

The initial shipment of boxes arrived at New Mexico State University in November 2007. It consisted of more than 2,000 boxes containing documents, audio and video recordings, framed prints and pictures, and numerous other materials weighing approximately 30 tons. More shipments followed in 2008 from Washington and the senator’s offices in New Mexico. By the end of that year the number of boxes had risen to more than 2,700.

For nearly a year, the staff in the new Political Papers Archives of the NMSU library ordered the boxes on shelves, sorted through the microfilm and memorabilia, and began the preparatory work for processing the collection, one of the largest congressional collections in the country. By the beginning of 2009 the recordings had been inventoried, and a good start was made on photographing and logging the memorabilia in the Archives database. Several boxes of papers, including clippings, legislative, correspondence, and administrative series, have been sorted through on the first go-round. And more than a thousand photographs have been scanned.

In 2010, serious processing began. The entire collection will take several years to complete. Once the work is finished and the Archives opened to researchers, it will provide not only a wealth of information on the senator’s career, but also his contributions in economic development, energy, the federal budget, national security, natural resources, behavioral health, nuclear non-proliferation, and many other topics.

(The Domenici collection is not open to researchers at this time. Please contact the Political Papers Archivist.)

Collection Timeline
2010  Ongoing Projects
Processing of photos and papers Processing of memorabilia records Digitizing cassettes Inventories completed
2009
Media was inventoried Later shipments inventoried Began photographing & logging memorabilia into archive’s database Organization of papers (clippings, legislative, correspondence and administrative) 1,000 photographs scanned
2008
First political papers staff member hired in February Shelving in place to house boxes Boxes shifted from 3rd floor to 2nd floor shelving Microfilm and memorabilia organized Political papers archivist hired in August Shipments from NM offices arrived (summer and fall) Las Cruces Albuquerque Santa Fe Roswell
2007
Initial shipment arrived at NMSU in November

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