Belen residents share childhood memories in oral-history program

A living archive in the Hub City

At the Belen Harvey House, Richard Melzer led a Valencia County Historical Society program that put the town’s memory in the hands of people who lived it: Filomena Baca, Arthur “Junior” Cordova and Magistrate Judge John Chavez. More than 30 local residents came to hear childhood recollections from the Hub City, making the gathering a public act of preservation rather than a private conversation. The same coverage identifies Junior as Castillo in one place, a reminder that oral history can preserve lives more faithfully than it preserves paperwork.

What the stories held onto

The value of the program was in the details that disappear first if no one writes them down. Baca described making toy dollhouses from catalog pictures and cardboard boxes, and she remembered that as a teenager there was little for children to do, so they cruised Main Street. Cordova said his childhood in Jarales revolved around work at the family flour mill, while Chavez recalled riding a bicycle all over town and making kites from grocery and dry-cleaning bags. Those memories give future readers something concrete: how children played, worked, improvised and moved through Belen and the surrounding area.

A second thread ran through the hour-long discussion: family as the center of civic life. Baca said her grandfather, a poet, politician and storyteller, was the person she most loved listening to, and Chavez recalled the influence of his great-grandfather, Henry Jaramillo. The conversation also linked private family memory to public history, as Baca remembered the Pearl Harbor attack and Chavez remembered watching the moon landing with his father in 1969. In other words, the program captured the way national events landed inside Belen homes.

Why the Harvey House is the right backdrop

The setting mattered because the Belen Harvey House is itself part of the city’s working memory. The building first operated from 1910 to 1939, was saved by citizens when it faced demolition, and later reopened after restoration. Since 2013, the Valencia County Historical Society has turned management of the museum over to the City of Belen, and it now operates as a branch of the Belen Public Library with a collection of railroad and Belen historical artifacts. The museum is overseen by Kathleen Pickering, the library and museum director.

That institutional framework gives the oral-history effort more weight than a single event. The society says its mission is to support appreciation, education and preservation of Valencia County’s diverse heritage, and its history stretches back to 1969, when local residents formed it to document the county’s legacy and cultures. Its current work includes monthly speakers, publications, awards and support for the county’s libraries, archives and museums, including the Belen Harvey House Museum. That makes the Belen program part of a longer civic system, not a one-off nostalgia session.

How residents can add their own stories

Locals who want their families’ memories to become part of Belen’s record do not have to wait for a formal archive drive. The historical society says it welcomes new members who want to learn about the past, share knowledge and skills, and make real contributions to its goals. It also lists a contact email and a Facebook page, and membership can be joined or renewed online or by mail to the society’s post office box in Los Lunas.

The practical takeaway is simple. Belen’s history is still being formed in front of residents, in the stories people tell about work, family, school, rail life and the small inventions of childhood. With the Harvey House now operating as a library branch and museum, and with the historical society still pushing research, education and outreach, the city has a place to store those memories before they are lost to time.