The New Mexico State University Library is pleased to announce that it has been selected as the repository for the Senator Mary Kay Papen Political Papers. Senator Papen has represented New Mexico District 38 since 2001 and served as Senate pro tem since 2013. She is the first woman to hold this position in the NM state senate since 1940.
“We are very grateful to receive these papers,” said Laurence S. Creider, Head of the NMSU Library Archives and Special Collections Department. “Senator Papen’s papers are a welcome addition to our collections because they cover a period which is underrepresented in most New Mexico collections and because we have only a few collections of the papers of women politicians. More importantly, Senator Papen has been a significant force in the New Mexico Legislature. She has devoted special attention to mental health issues, economic development, and education.”
The Senator Papen Papers will be joining other luminaries of New Mexico politics in the NMSU Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department Political Papers unit. Other collections housed in the Political Papers unit include those of such as Senator Pete V. Domenici, Senator Holm Bursum, Senator Albert B. Fall, Governor Garrey Carruthers, Governor Herbert J. Hagerman, Governor James F. Hinkle, and Governor Edwin L. Mechem.
“Senator Papen is one of the most outstanding state political leaders of my time,” said NMSU President Garrey Carruthers. “She has served Dona Ana County and the state of New Mexico with the utmost distinction and it’s always an honor to work with her. Having her papers housed at the New Mexico State University Library is just icing on the cake.”