The mission of the Western New Mexico University Museum is to advance understanding of the diverse artistic and cultural heritages of Southwest New Mexico through research, collection, exhibition, interpretation, and preservation, to enable the visitor experience of authentic and significant art and artifacts firsthand in meaningful contexts, and to support and enrich the educational mission of Western New Mexico University.

Permanent exhibitions feature the largest, most comprehensive permanent exhibition of prehistoric Mimbres Mogollon pottery and artifacts in the world, and include separate displays of basketry, footwear, cordage, stone tools, and stone and shell jewelry. Prehistoric pottery and artifacts of the Upland Mogollon, Casas Grandes, Salado, and Anasazi are also exhibited.

Historic Puebloan pottery, Navajo blankets dating to the 1920s and 1930s, New Deal art, and contemporary art by local artists are scattered throughout the museum. Historic Puebloan pottery by Maria & Julian Martinez, TsePe & Dora, Santana, Blue Corn, Mary Singer and others highlights continuity and change between prehistoric pottery and historic Puebloan pottery.

Photographs, mining artifacts, and a reproduction of an Assayer's Office, present a brief history of mining in the area.

Permanent Campus History displays examine the university's origins in 1893, the townspeople and statesmen behind its formation, and its development from a territorial normal school to university.

The University Museum Shop offers a variety of Mimbreño-inspired jewelry, nightlights, t-shirts, post cards, and note cards; Mimbres pottery reproductions; and an assortment of books on the prehistory and history of the Southwest, the Apache, Mimbres archaeology, Southwestern cooking, and children's books.