Skip to main content

United States Geological Survey photographs

 Collection
Identifier: Ms-0327

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of 79 digital images, stored on CD-ROM as 300 pixels per inch, TIFF files, of mining and mineral operations from throughout the state of New Mexico. The majority of the images depict mining in the southern counties of Catron, Grant, Luna, Doña Ana, Sierra, Otero and Lincoln. The images were made by personnel of the United States Geological Survey between the years of 1905 and 1945. The original images are housed at the United States Geological Survey Photographic Library at Lakewood, Colorado. The photographs are available in a searchable database on the website of the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections.

Dates

  • 1905 - 1945

Conditions Governing Access

Open. All materials in this collection are available for research under supervised conditions in the Research Room.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyrights associated with materials in this collection have not been transferred to New Mexico State University.

Biographical / Historical

The United States Geological Survey, a part of the Bureau of the Interior, was created by Congress in 1879 for the purpose of the "classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain." As part of its survey, study and classification of the geology of the United States, the department has produced a vast photographic record, now housed in the U.S. Geological Survey Library in Lakewood, Colorado. The USGS photographic archive consists of more than 500,000 items and contains important early photographs of the American West by photographers such as William Henry Jackson, Timothy O’Sullivan and Jack Hillers, who accompanied the great geological and geographical surveys of the West during 1870s and 1880s. The USGS has added continuously to this photographic archive until the present day.

Extent

79 items

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The collection consists of digital images of 79 photographs depicting New Mexico mining operations. The photographs were collected by Dr. Neal Ackerly from the United States Geological Survey Photographic Library in Lakewood, Colorado.

Related Materials

Louis B. Bentley papers. Ms 0014. Archives and Special Collections, New Mexico State University Library.
United States Bureau of Reclamation photographs. Ms 0324. Archives and Special Collections, New Mexico State University Library.
Neal Ackerly photograph collection. Ms 0326. Archives and Special Collections, New Mexico State University Library.
Title
Guide to the United States Geological Survey photographs
Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
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