New Mexico allocates $20 million for scaled-down museum project
Descendants of the Navajo Code Talkers are criticizing a New Mexico plan to build a scaled-down museum about the wartime code at the Navajo Preparatory School campus in Farmington, with a groundbreaking set for December. The plan replaces a long-discussed facility envisioned for a 2009 Chevron land donation in Tse Bonito, near the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock.
New Mexico has set aside $20 million in capital outlay for the project, with half of that allocated this year.
For decades, Navajo Code Talkers and their descendants have envisioned an expansive museum on the Navajo Nation that would educate the public about the complex code they developed using their language during World War II. The code is credited with helping secure Allied victory in the war. Some had also hoped the facility would include a connected veteran’s center and space for research and archival storage.
Chevron donated about 200 acres of land in Tse Bonito, near Window Rock — the Navajo Nation capital — in 2009, providing a site for the earlier, larger proposal.
Under the new plan, New Mexico state officials and Navajo Preparatory School will build a scaled-down version on the school’s campus in Farmington, a town just outside the boundary of the Navajo Nation and about two hours northeast of Tse Bonito.
The plan has drawn criticism from descendants, who for decades envisioned an expansive museum on the Navajo Nation that would include a connected veteran’s center and space for research and archival material.