Tucked away in the Four Corners of New Mexico is the collection of a lifetime - literally. Tom Bolack was a tale of Americana. He was a self-made oil man. A hunter, a tinkerer, and a collector. He was the governor for the state of New Mexico for 32 days in 1962. Tom’s affections for fire, fireworks, and other small explosives earned him the reputation as a bit of a rebel.
Tom had a knack for hoarding pieces of history. He documented the evolution of industries by their inventions. He traveled to far-off places. He met with the rich & famous, the poor & isolated. Despite the many miles his adventures pulled from him, he always returned to Farmington, NM. Piece-by-piece, he kept building his unique memoir of objects, a sanctuary nestled off a dirt road in the desert. Described as a ranch, an experimental farm, and an electromechanical museum, Tom’s collection sprawls across 12,000 acres.
After 80 years of life, Tom died in 1998. One of his last requests was to be cremated and for his remains to be scattered across his property via 16 custom-designed fireworks. His collection is shared by his family and they share it with the public for free.
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