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PHOTO ARCHIVES

Albuquerque Museum's rich archive of historic photographs document Albuquerque, its people, architecture, businesses, urban landscape, and depictions of daily life and important events

Photo Archives

KOB at the State Fair Parade

Unidentified photographer, KOB at the State Fair Parade, ca. 1953, color negative, lent by KOB4

Reading, Writing, and Reporting: A Snapshot of Journalism is on view July 15, 2023 - March 24, 2024

The Albuquerque Museum presents Reading, Writing, and Reporting: A Snapshot of Journalism on view at the Albuquerque Museum July 15, 2023 – March 24, 2024. This exhibition explores how journalism is a bastion of democracy analyzing how those involved navigate integrity and portrayals of the truth. This collection of photographs identify how newspapers were made as well as the individual pioneers of local radio and television.

 

If you have photographs of Albuquerque and wish to donate them to Albuquerque Museum's Photo Archives, please call 505-764-6520 and make an appointment.

 

  

Albuquerque Museum's Photo Archives comprises approximately 150,000 images and items made by amateur, commercial, and studio photographers throughout the central Rio Grande valley and the City of Albuquerque from 1867 to the present. The collection includes photographic prints, stereoscopic views, glass plate negatives, family albums, slides, oral history recordings, ephemera, postcards, film, and digitized media.

The Photo Archives also has a small reference library with books on the history of photography, Albuquerque City Directories, and local history books. Photo Archives are open to the public Tuesday-Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
For research appointments, please schedule with the Digital Archivist by calling 505-764-6520.

The Photo Archives collection includes portraiture by major photographic studios in Albuquerque like the Cobb Studio and the Brooks Studio, original photographs by Ward Hicks Advertising Agency printed in the Albuquerque Progress magazine, and thousands of slides capturing the changing landscape of Albuquerque in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Significant donations include materials documenting Albuquerque’s founding families, railroad-era businesses and industries near New Town, and postcards documenting the Route 66 motels. The collection is augmented by major gifts of prints and negatives provided by the Albuquerque Public Library Special Collections and UNM Center for Southwestern Research.

Additional Resources

PICTURE THIS! PODCASTS: Watch the stories behind the photos

 

 

Photo Archives Two Men in Barelas 1969

Walter McDonald
Two Men in Barelas, 1969
35mm color slide
PA1996.029.235

Photo Archives The Progress Dry Goods Store 1895

Cobb Studio
The Progress Dry Goods Store, ca. 1895
Glass plate negative
Albuquerque Museum, gift of Walter C. Haussamen
PA1990.013.075

Photo Archives Matachine dancer 1927

Matachine dancer in ceremonial dress, 1927
Albumen silver print
Albuquerque Museum, gift of George Wormington Law
PA1971.060.017

Photo Archives  Walter Ufer 1934

Walter Ufer Painting in Taos, New Mexico, July 13, 1934
Gelatin silver print
Albuquerque Museum, gift of Dorothea Whitcraft
PA1972.025.047

Photo Archives The Sky Court 1950

The Sky Court, ca. 1950
Postcard
Albuquerque Museum, gift of Nancy Tucker
PA2014.007.418

Photo Archives Hilda Maddison 1920

Hilda Maddison, 1920
Gelatin silver print
Albuquerque Museum, gift of Roy Maddison.
PA1972.019.014