Fred Nolan's Work Comes Home to New Mexico

 August 15, 2025

   The lifework of our late, great friend and formidable Lincoln County War historian has just arrived in Las Cruces at the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections and will soon be available for scholars to study and use. The department head, Dennis Daily, asked me if I would like to say a few words about Mr. Nolan and I said I would very much like to do that. 

Frederick Nolan at Ruidoso Downs

(Photo by BBB)

   For me, Fred Nolan was the nimble prince of the Billy the Kid field, which can be quite petty and contentious. Fred blew the doors off of all that because he could be just as snotty and petty and contentious as any pompous American historian. And he was hilarious doing it! Damn, he was funny. But he was much more than that. Generous to a fault, gracious and kind, he gave a decorum and first rate scholarship to our efforts that is sorely missed today.

   About ten years ago, Fred and Heidi came to the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in Ruidoso and I gave a talk on Billy the Kid in a small tent on the infield of the racetrack at Ruidoso Downs. There were perhaps 35 people in the tent with Fred choosing to sit in the first row, directly in front of me. I started to give my usual talk on Billy the Kid, but at almost every juncture, I would look down to see if he agreed and he would nod and smile, or, add in his two cents. After about five minutes of this, I threw up my hands and introduced him to the audience and asked him to join me on stage. He hopped up there and we regaled that audience with a flurry of ribald opinion and humor and we absolutely killed, as the comedians are fond of saying. In fact, some of them said to us after the show that we reminded them of Laurel & Hardy. I'm still not sure if that is a complement, but he was a showman as well as a top rated historian. He is sorely missed by me and many others.

—BBB

"Fred participated in the McSween Site Dig in Lincoln during the 1980s loving every minute of that time. He also played the piano with a vengeance and with a special style and grace depending on the music. He was a giant and now, he's gone. Vaya con Dios amigo."

—Lynda Sanchez