Carlsbad native Jed Howard is best known as the Problems of American Democracy teacher at Carlsbad High School, an indispensable class for generations of students. His legacy also includes a lifelong dedication toward preserving local history, culminating in the creation of the Nearlovingsbend.net, an archive of Carlsbad's history.

He taught Social Studies in the town's Mid High School in

1962. In 1964, he accepted a position in the Senior High School Social Studies Department.

He served as president of the Carlsbad Museum and Fine Arts Center Board, the Carlsbad Foundation Board of Directors and the Carlsbad Community Concert Board. Howard was an appointed member of the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Natural History Museum, and was president of the Southeastern New Mexico Historical Society in Carlsbad from 1998 to 2013.

In 1985, he began to search out the area's early photographs to copy them for the community. He also read through all of the town's first 50 years of newspapers and became widely known as the area's leading historian.

In 1997, he received the Excellence in the Humanities Award from New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities. In 2005, he was named Carlsbad's Humanitarian of the Year by the Carlsbad Foundation. In 200g, he received the National Daughters of the American Revolution Historic Preservation Medal.