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Green Edward Miller photographs

 Collection
Identifier: Ms-0101

Scope and Contents

The collection contains contact prints made from original and copy negatives, and xerographic copies made from original prints that were copied and returned to the donor. Subjects include family and individual portraits, scenes of ranching, farming, logging, railroading, church, school and holiday gatherings. Locations depicted include Agua Chiquita Canyon, Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, Cox Canyon, Curtis Canyon, Elk, Hay Canyon, Lower Peñasco, Mayhill, Miller Flats, Miller’s Valley, Piñon, Rincon Canyon and the Rio Sacramento. Photographs have been separated according to their format: contact prints of the glass negatives, contact prints and xerographic copies, and copy negatives. Within each of these series the images are arranged alphabetically by subject. Therefore the same subjects matter repeats within each series.

Dates

  • 1900-1920

Biographical / Historical

Green Edward Miller was born June 1870 in Wise County Texas. His parents were Green Anderson Miller and Ann Mildred Parson. Ann Mildred Parson died in 1876. G. E. Miller attended the Rush Branch School near Decatur, Texas, bewteen about 1880 and 1885. He married Martha Ann Baker McKindrey on April 9 1893, in Barstow, Ward County, Texas. McKindrey was divorced and the mother of two children, Maudie and Melvin. The family moved to Hay Canyon, near Weed, New Mexico, around 1893 and their first two children, Joseph Anderson and Ada Frances, were born there. The Millers homesteaded on what is now Miller Flats, between Mayhill and Weed, around 1898. They named their place Sunnyview Farm. Six more children were born to the couple: George Edward (Jed) in 1898, Winnie Mae in 1901, Charles Myron in 1904, Lela in 1906, and twins, Faye and Raye in 1911.

Miller was active as a photographer in Dona Ana, Otero and Lincoln counties from about 1893 to 1920, although most of his work was produced in and around the Sacramento Mountains where he lived. He engaged in photography as a profession and gained at least part of his income by photographing people and events throughout the Sacramento Mountains. He photographed individuals, families, school children, church groups, logging, ranching, railroading and other community activities. He made his images with a large field camera, producing glass negatives in 4x5, 5x7 and 5x8-inch formats. He operated a studio for a time in Alamogordo, New Mexico - possibly the former studio of his brother-in-law, pioneer photographer A.J. Buck.

Green Edward and Martha divorced in 1925, and he moved to Abilene, Texas, where he worked for Hardin Simmons College for several years before returning to New Mexico. He died on May 25, 1954 in Las Vegas, New Mexico and was buried in the Lusk cemetery near Miller Flats along with Martha, his father, and several of his children.

Extent

10 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Itinerant photographer throughout the Sacramento Mountain area. The collection contains 345 glass negatives in 4x5, 5x7, and 5x8 formats, 36 mounted prints in 4x6, 5x7, 5x8 and 8x10 formats, and about 700 4x5 copy negatives. Subjects include family and individual portraits, scenes of ranching, farming, logging, railroading, church, school and holiday gatherings. Locations depicted include Agua Chiquita Canyon, Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, Cox Canyon, Curtis Canyon, Elk, Hay Canyon, Lower Peñasco, Mayhill, Miller Flats, Miller’s Valley, Piñon, Rincon Canyon and the Rio Sacramento.

Related Materials

Tularosa Basin Historical Society collection. Ms 0287. New Mexico State University Library, Archives and Special Collections Department.

Processing Information

Don R. Day and Austin Hoover, 1981-1983 Dennis Daily and Lenny Silverman, 2005
Title
Guide to the Green Edward Miller photographs
Status
Completed
Author
Don R. Day, Austin Hoover, Dennis Daily and Lenny Silverman
Date
Updated in 2005
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Branson Hall
PO Box 30006
MSC 3475
Las Cruces New Mexico 88003 USA