Did you know that, in 1880, New Mexico had no private school system? It wasn’t until 1886 that the Territorial Education Association (now known as the National Education Association of New Mexico) formed. So, in the first half of the 20th century, our school system was still pretty new. These 16 photos give us an idea of what school was like in those early days.

1. The school house on the Pueblo of San Rafael, as it appeared around 1900. San Rafael is in Cibola County.
Wikimedia Commons/George Wharton James
2. The exterior of the Government Navajo Indian school in Tohatchi, in 1901.
Wikimedia Commons/Pierce, C.C. (Charles C.)
3. Students, lined up according to height, wait outside the same school.
Wikimedia Commons/Pierce, C.C. (Charles C.)
4. Children sleeping inside their dormitory at the Navajo school in Tohatchi.
Wikimedia Commons/James, George Wharton
5. The New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell is a high school and junior college. This is what it looked like in 1904.
Wikimedia Commons/Internet Archive Book Images
6. Children in Bosque Farms used to have classes inside this humble schoolhouse.
Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein
7. This school, which was still under construction in 1936, replaced the old school at Bosque Farms.
Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein
8. In 1940, students play a game of tug of war at the Isleta Day School.
Wikimedia Commons/Unknown

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9. Kids playing during recess at a grade school in Hobbs, in 1940.
Photogrammar/Russell Lee
10. Check out science class in New Mexico in 1943. These students in Penasco were conducting tests on soil.
Photogrammar/John Collier
11. In 1943, teachers had to physically yank on a bell pull to sound the bell, as this teacher is doing.
Photogrammar/John Collier
12. A class at the same Penasco school. Check out the posters surrounding the blackboard!
Photogrammar/John Collier
13. A Catholic-run high school in Penasco, in 1943.
Photogrammar/John Collier
14. A domestic science class, a.k.a. home economics, being taught at the same school.
Photogrammar/John Collier
15. This one-room schoolhouse was located in Ojo Sarco, a community in Rio Arriba County. Students from eight different grades all studied together here in 1943, under the guidance of two teachers.
Photogrammar/John Collier
16. A child at the same school practicing her letters.
Photogrammar/John Collier

If you’re interested in seeing more vintage photos from New Mexico’s past, check out 11 then and now photos that show how much our state has changed over the years.

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