Located on the University of Texas at El Paso campus, this institution opened in 1936 as the city's oldest museum and developed into a center for cultural and natural history focused on the Chihuahuan Desert and the southwestern U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Its collections and exhibits link regional landscapes with human history through paleontology, geology, ethnology, archaeology, vertebrate biology, and Casas Grandes pottery, with strong attention to indigenous, colonial, pre-urban, and folk cultures. The adjoining gardens cultivate more than 600 native desert plant species for conservation, education, and outreach. Together, the museum and gardens support research, public learning, and free public access to the region's natural and cultural heritage.