In 1936, UNM President James Zimmerman received funding from the Works Progress Administration for several buildings on campus, including a new library. Zimmerman hired John Gaw Meem to design the library in a Spanish pueblo style. Meem’s design included four recessed bays in the great hall for a set of large-scale murals, and Meem recommended that Kenneth Adams, also a friend to Zimmerman, be commissioned for the work. The library was constructed from 1936-1938, but funding was not available for the murals. In 1938, Zimmerman received a Carnegie grant to hire Adams to work on the murals for the library and teach part-time in UNM”s Department of Fine Arts. The murals were completed in 1939. --Paraphrased From Bellmore, A., & Bordeianu, S. (2013)