The Other Route 66: 100 Years of People, Identity, and Place in Albuquerque
June 6, 2026 - January 3, 2027
November 11, 2026 marks the centennial of Route 66, a road often celebrated as a symbol of freedom and the American dream. Stretching across seven states and over 2,400 miles, Route 66 carried millions of travelers, hosted countless small businesses, and became a site of encounter, displacement, and settlement. Yet the story of this iconic highway is far from uniform, and each path it crosses has its own story to tell. The Other Route 66: 100 Years of People, Identity, and Place in Albuquerque invites visitors to explore these layered narratives. This exhibition centers the lives of those who traveled, worked, and lived alongside the road, including stories often left out of mainstream accounts: migrants seeking opportunity, communities shaped by segregation and commerce, and the individuals whose identities were forged at this intersection of movement and place. This exhibition is supported by the Mellon Foundation.
Public Programs
Saturday, June 6, 11 am to 12 pm
Music by Paul Pino and the Tone Daddies.
- Playing New Mexican Cumbias and Rancheras, Country, and Blues with a special attention to the musical roots of Route 66.
Saturday, June 6, 2 to 3 pm
"The Green Book and the Roots of Route 66," talk by Candacy Taylor.
- Candacy Taylor is the leading Green Book expert in the country. Her best-selling book, Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America, made the New York Times’ most notable books of the year, Oprah Magazine’s top 26 travel books, and National Geographic’s top 10 list of books by women. Taylor is a National Geographic Explorer, and her projects have been funded by the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, and the National Trust. Her work has been featured in over 80 media outlets, including The Atlantic, CBS Sunday Morning, The Economist, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Fortune, and Time Magazine. Taylor was a fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University under the direction of Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. She then curated The Negro Motorist Green Book, a Smithsonian exhibition that toured 14 US museums from 2020 to 2025.
- Book signing at Museum Store to follow.
Wednesday, July 15, 6 pm
"Route 66" by Michael Wallis
- Author and Route 66 expert expert Michael Wallis talks about the road’s legacy and future. A recipient of the John Steinbeck Award, the Will Rogers Spirit Award, and many more, Wallis was the first inductee into the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame. Wallis also played the Sheriff in the Disney Pixar Cars franchise.
Sunday, August 23, 2 pm
- Conversation: Join Dr. Alicia Romero, Head Curator & Curator of History, as she talks to photojournalists and documentary photographers about photographing Route 66 in New Mexico. Panel participants include Roberto Rosales, visual journalist for Albuquerque Journal and adjunct faculty of photojournalism and photography at the University of New Mexico, and Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli, documentary photographer whose work has appeared in New Mexico Magazine and who recently published Seventh and Central: Lowriders with University of New Mexico Press.
- Book signing with Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli at Museum Store to follow.
Sunday, September 27, 2 pm
Talk: "History of the Indian Detours," by Kathleen Dull, Librarian and Archivist, Fray Angélico Chávez History Library at New Mexico History Museum.
Sunday, October 25, 2 pm
Talk: "Headlights on the Mother Road: A History of the Fireballs," by George Tomsco, founder of The Fireballs.
Sunday, November 8, 2 pm
Talk: "Neon along Route 66," by John Meier, owner of the Classical Gas Museum, Embudo, New Mexico.
Thursday, November 19, 5 to 8:30 pm
Free event: Third Thursday, Route 66 Dance Party.
Sunday, December 13, 2 pm
Talk: "Route 66 Travelers and Tribes 100 years," by Shawn Price, Tradition Keeper and Director of the Dine'Tah Navajo Cultural Program.
Image: Brooks Studio, Wrecked Cars at Oden Motors, 1936, Albuquerque Museum, gift of Channell Graham, PA1978.152.016