The Tombaugh family recently donated the papers to the Library’s Rio Grande Historical Collections. The funding will begin the process of making this large and valuable research collection -- estimated at more than 160 cubic feet of materials -- accessible to researchers.

Included among the papers are materials concerning Tombaugh’s early career at Lowell Observatory, where he discovered the planet Pluto, and at White Sands Missile Range. The papers are significant not only for their documentation of Tombaugh himself, but also for evidence of the history of astronomy, physics and related sciences. The principal investigator for the processing project is the interim department head of the Library’s Southwest and Border Research Center, Molly Molloy.

The New Mexico Historical Records Advisory Board is funded by the New Mexico Legislature and the National Historic Publications and Records Commission. Its mission is to advocate the preservation of the state’s historical records and to stimulate public access to the records.

For more information or to make a donation to continue the processing of the collection beyond the period of grant funding, contact Molloy at (505) 646-6931 or mmolloy@lib.nmsu.edu.

April 6, 2001

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