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PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY JOHN NICHOLS, 1968-2000

 File — Box: 184

Scope and Contents

  1. Folder 1: VIETNAM WAR PHOTOS, NEW YORK CITY, PROBABLY 1968 - 3 large B&W photos I took of a powerful "END THE WAR NOW" poster surrounded by graffiti on various walls in Manhattan. The poster advertised an anti-war rally I attended in Madison Square Garden. It was sponsored by SANE, and featured Ossie Davis, William Sloane Coffin, Jules Pfieffer, Erich Fromm, and Pete Seeger. The poster is all black and features a crying Vietnamese child at the center. These photographs certainly symbolize the agony of Vietnam and the agony I went through protesting that war for many years. One of these shots is reproduced in A Fragile Beauty.
  2. Folder 2: JOE CISNEROS, DON GARDNER, MOLYBDENUM MINE, QUESTA, 1970 - 4 B&W fading prints of Don Gardner drawing with a stick in the dirt, watched by Joe Cisneros during my initial trip to Questa to meet Joe, early spring 1970. That meeting resulted in my first article for the New Mexico Review, "A Man With a Previous Record," published May 1970, about Joe being fired by the Molybdenum Mine in his hometown of Questa, NM. This folder includes my 12 negative strips of Joe and Don talking and walking around Questa, and also of Joe at the Molybdenum Mine in Questa. I used one of these latter pictures to illustrate my Review article.
  3. Folder 3: OVERVIEW OF MOLYBDENUM MINE IN QUESTA, EARLY 1970s - 1 large B&W aerial photo of the mass mountain strip-mining of the Questa, NM, Molycorp molybdenum mine. The mine is now (2014) owned by Chevron. Undated photo and photographer unknown.
  4. Unfoldered: PHOTO ALBUM RELATING TO DEATH OF FELIPE MARES, SPRING 1971 - The album includes 23 B&W photos I took relating to the death of Felipe Mares, a Taos jail escapee, in 1971. I wrote about "The Death of Felipe Mares" in the August/September 1971 New Mexico Review. I took these photos at the spot in a dry acequia (in a field on the Middle Road [Camino del Medio] of Taos) where Mares died, shot by a sheriff's deputy "in self defense." Photos show that the ditch was not deep enough to jump out of and "surprise" the cop as he claimed. In the photos are my friends Ricardo Maes, of the Santa Fe group La Gente, and Joan Friedland, a Santa Fe movement lawyer, an unknown person, and my son Luke, who was 4 years old. My final 5 photos in the album are of a demonstration in Taos against the Mares killing. My image of the demonstrators confronting the Taos sheriff at our courthouse was on the cover of the Aug/Sept 1971 Review. It was of an angry demonstrator holding up a sign saying, "WE MUST STOP THIS INJUSTICES!" But I can't find this image or the negatives of the occasion.
  5. Folder 4: "THE PEOPLE, YES," NM REVIEW, MAY 1971 - 7 B&W photos of a demonstration against welfare cuts at the state capitol in Santa Fe, Spring 1971. I did not take these pictures, but 4 of them were used for my article in the May 1971 Review, "The People, Yes." Photos include Lt. Guv Roberto Mondragón; Godfrey Reggio of La Gente in Santa Fe; Mrs. Concha Lopez; and Eileen Ellis. Photos are credited to the Winston Studio in Santa Fe.
  6. Folder 5: "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ELDORADO?" MOTIVE, APRIL/MAY 1971 - 4 of my (lousy) B&W photos, 3 of a burned-out wooden bridge over the Rio Grande south of Taos, and 1 photo of the House of Taos restaurant in Taos with a completely barred window because bullets were fired through it. My article in Motive Magazine described the Hippy/Chicano War in Taos. The article was reprinted in Iris Keltz's book, Scrapbook of a Taos Hippie, published more recently by Cinco Puntos Press of El Paso.
  7. Folder 5: DEMONSTRATIONS, ALBUQUERQUE, SANTA FE, 1970(?) 1971(?) - 2 B&W photos. One shows tear gas on Central Avenue during an anti-war demonstration. It's a large photo, a good one, attributed to Mike Spiller. Smaller photo I took on Santa Fe Plaza during a demonstration: I thought the people pictured were undercover cops that I recognized from another occasion.
  8. Folder 6: RÍO GRANDE RIVER, HORSES IN FIELDS, 1970-1972 - There is one B&W contact sheet with 28 images on it of the Rio Grande River in the gorge, and of horses in rural fields, probably in Taos. I suspect taken for the NM Review, but never used. Folder includes 6 of my negative strips with 32 pictures on them. Pretty bland, useless photos. If nobody is looking, you're welcome to throw them away.
  9. Folder 7: "WHAT ABOUT THE INDIANS?" NM REVIEW, OCTOBER 1972 - 2 B&W photos, one large, one small, taken by Phil Edwards, the ad manager for the New Mexico Review. Depicting an angry demonstration by native Americans. I published the article, "What About the Indians?" in the October 1972 Review. The article doesn't have a byline, I don't remember who wrote it. Maybe Phil himself? I don't think I wrote it, though I was writing (uncredited) a lot of articles in the last three Reviews. Folder includes the article from the October 1972 Review.
  10. Folder 8: REIES TIJERINA, ESPAÑOLA, NM, OCTOBER 3, 1971 - 8 B&W photos I took of Tijerina speaking in Española on Oct. 3, 1971. Also a contact sheet with 35 underexposed pictures of Tijerina speaking. One picture has my pal, Andrés Martínez, talking to Tijerina; I drove Andrés down there; he was a Republican and a Morman and also revered Tijerina. My article, illustrated by these photos, appeared in the November 1971 New Mexico Review, titled, "A Man Like the Northern Weather." Folder includes all the B&W negatives (35 of them) from this photo shoot.
  11. Folder 9: ROBERT SHORTY, JUSTIN AND IVAN LOCKE, TAOS, AROUND 1970-71 - 1 color photo I took of my friends Robert Shorty and Justin Locke discussing something in my Taos house. Between them is Justin's little boy, Ivan Locke. Probably 1970 0r 1971. Justin is the first Taoseño I ever met, in June 1957, when I visited him briefly as a 16-year-old.
  12. Folder 10: INDIAN CAMP DAM HEARING IN TAOS, AUGUST 24, 1972 - 12 B&W photos of people at Taos County Courthouse for this important hearing about conservancy district and the Indian Camp Dam. Includes large photo of lawyer Gene Weisfeld with Pacomio Mondragón, Andrés Martínez, Paul Valerio, Amado Valerio, Polito Martínez outside the courthouse. Also lawyer Willis Dees, and Paul Valerio caping a bull with his sweater! Folder includes all my negatives from the shoot and contact sheet strips with tiny prints of the photos. Also included is my printed article of that hearing with the photographs that appeared in the October 1972 New Mexico Review: "INDIAN CAMP DAM: The Hunting of the Snark."
  13. Folder 11: B&W PHOTOS OF JTN, ANDRÉS MARTÍNEZ, PAUL VALERIO, 1972 - Negatives of 34 pictures taken of Andrés, Paul, and myself, and someone else I can't identify. In Taos, 1972.
  14. Folder 11: JOHN YOUNG-HUNTER ESTATE PHOTOS, TAOS, 1971, 1972 - Somebody gave me a couple of old prints of photos being deep-sixed by the John Young-Hunter Estate in Taos. I totally forget the circumstances. They were reproductions of old photos of Native Americans, I guess taken by Young-Hunter. I gave one picture to my friend Soge Track at the Taos Pueblo, kept the other, which is here. I have no clue where the Indians pictured are from. This folder also has a strange picture of a kid standing beside an enormous gun which must date from the 1800s sometime. A very strange little photo.
  15. Folder 12: TAOS PUEBLO BLUE LAKE CELEBRATION, DEC.1970 OR JAN. 1971 - I photographed this celebration at the Taos Pueblo of the Senate's passage (On Dec. 1 or 2, 1970), and President Nixon's signing (on December 15, 1970, I think), of the Blue Lake Bill returning 48,000 acres of Blue Lake land to the Taos Pueblo. So this day was either still in December 1970 or early January 1971, I'm guessing. Lots of outdoor speeches at the Pueblo, then a big feast in the banquet hall that I was taken to by Jeri Track's dad, Jim Suazo. Everybody was scarfing buffalo. My photos, in the miserable weather, are quite bad, but they do mark a very historic occasion. (Too, these days they could be scanned and seriously improved on a computer.) 84 photographs total. Included in this folder are all my negatives, and 3 contact sheets of the pictures. On Contact Sheet 1 I've starred photos of the speakers' dias on which I recognize John Rainer (of Taos Pueblo, very instrumental in the Blue Lake struggle), LaDonna Harris, Paul Bernal (of the Pueblo, and prime mover of the struggle), Fred Harris (he and LaDonna also very important in the struggle), and, seated, NM Senator Joe Montoya. In first 2 photos Paul Bernal is speaking; in second 2 photos it's Joe Montoya talking. On Contact Sheet 2 I've starred Joe Montoya shaking hands during the banquet at Taos Pueblo. On Contact Sheet 3 I've starred 1 picture of John Rainer, and 2 photos of Fred and LaDonna Harris, and a picture of my Pueblo friends Jeri Track and her daughters Maxine Track and Soge Track listening to the speakers.
  16. Folder 13: "FLOOD" PHOTOS FOR N.M. REVIEW, SUMMER 1972 - When I was editing the New Mexico Review in 1972, I ran an article in the September issue by Paul M. Sears called "How to Ignore a Flood." I illustrated the article with a B&W flood photograph I took of a puddle in my driveway with toy cars and a little plastic cow in the water. The image actually came across as a flood! This folder contains all the B&W negatives I shot; a contact sheet with 23 of the "flood" images; and a 9 x 6 print of the picture that illustrates Sears' article.
  17. Folder 14: RALPH SUAZO, TAOS PUEBLO SCULPTOR, FEBRUARY 1972 - I published an article in the February 1972 New Mexico Review called "A Man Who Used to Race Horses." It's about a Pueblo sculptor, Ralph Suazo, the brother of Jeri Track and Juanita Dubray. This folder has 4 B&W photos of Ralph's sculptures; a contact sheet with 34 images of Ralph's work on it; and the B&W negatives for the sculpture pictures; also the negatives for 25 shots of Ralph's mare and her colt, and 1 shot of my son Luke eating an ice cream bar at the Pueblo. Ralph's horses also belong to his father, Jim Suazo. (See next folder.)
  18. Folder 15: JIM SUAZO AND HIS HORSES, TAOS PUEBLO, 1971-1972 - This folder has two large B&W photos of Jim Suazo and one of his horses at the Pueblo. There is also a contact sheet with 20 images on it. Plus 26 B&W negatives for these pictures. Jim and his son, Ralph (see folder above), own these horses together.
  19. Folder 16: GEORGE McGOVERN IN ESPAÑOLA, SEPTEMBER 10, 1972 - This folder has 13 large B&W photos of Presidential Candidate McGovern speaking in Española, NM, and pressing the flesh afterwards on Sunday, September 10, 1972. There are also 3 contact sheets with 56 images of the event on them. And 10 B&W negative strips with 56 pictures on them. McGovern is on stage with NM Politicos Mike Anaya, Gov. Bruce King, Senator Joe Montoya, Rio Arriba kingpin Emilio Naranjo, Lt. Guv Roberto Mondragón, Jack Daniels, and Gene Gallegos. Folder includes front page of the October 1972 New Mexico Review with a big photo above my article: "George McGovern in Española: Still a Human Being."
  20. Folder 17: ROBERT SHORTY, 2 ILLUSTRATIONS FOR NAVAJO STORIES, 1971-72 - Bob Shorty is a longtime friend, met in 1969 or 1970, a wonderful Navajo sculptor married to Bernadette Track at the Taos Pueblo. This folder has 2 illustrations Bob did for a book of stories in the Navajo language, I believe around 1972.
  21. Folder 18: "STEALING WATER...RIGHT WAY," VALLE ESCONDIDO, SUMMER 1972 - Photos of Andrés Martínez at the Valle Escondido, staring at sprinkler on the golf course, other pictures. Late July, 1972. Folder includes 2 contact sheets with 39 B&W tiny photos on them; also negatives with 16 photos; and copy of NM Review front page with my article, "Stealing Water the Right Way" and great B&W photo of Andrés on the front page. (See a folder below relating to images for Dancing on the Stones.)
  22. Folder 19: BLACK MESA STRIP-MINING, NM REVIEW, NOVEMBER 1972 - 1 large B&W photo, by Karl Kernberger, of the strip-mining of Black Mesa. Folder includes NM Review article which accompanied Karl's photo. Karl was a friend, a great photographer, film-maker, environmental activist. Died suddenly of a heart attack.
  23. Folder 20: "REAL INDIANS" BILLBOARD FOR SANTO DOMINGO, 1972 - 2 large B&W photos I took between Burque and Santa Fe. 1 features a pretty trippy racist billboard for the Santo Domingo Trading Post ("Visit, Watch, Trade Where REAL INDIANS Trade.") Another photo has a CLUB HOUSE sign in desert terrain where a development is being hatched. There are 2 smaller B&W sunset photos, one of which I used as a "farewell" picture in the November 1972 NM Review, the last one I published as editor, the last Review ever published. Folder includes a page of the Review with that photo. Also a contact sheet and the negatives from that photo shoot. Contact sheet shows some pictures from a teepee burner at a lumber yard that I think belonged to Duke City, and was located in Española. I could be wrong because I often am wrong!
  24. Folder 21: LA GENTE CLINICA OPENING FIESTA, SANTA FE, SEPT. 15, 1972 - La Gente, a Santa Fe movement group, opened La Clinica de La Gente on West San Francisco Street on Sept. 15, 1972, with a big fiesta. Folder includes an article I wrote for the NM Review about the celebration. Folder also contains: 3 B&W photos of Daniel Canales speaking, brother of Rito Canales (who was murdered by Albuquerque police). A picture of Margarita Gallegos, mother of Roy Gallegos (killed by Santa Fe cops). 2 photos of Ricardo Maes, my friend (and hubby of Ellen Souberman), and Richard Moore of the Burque Black Berets, speaking. There are 17 large B&W photos: of Richard Moore and Daniel Canales, speaking, although most of the pictures are of people in the street, dancing, mingling, and many lovely photos of eager kids grabbing at a piñata. Too, there are 3 contact sheets with 78 tiny photos on them of the fiesta. And all my negatives from the shoot.
  25. Folder 22: A TOWN CHANGES ITS NAME, LOS OJOS, NM, JULY 25, 1972 - Parkview, NM, changed its name back to Los Ojos during its Fiesta de Santiago, July 1972. I attended the fiesta, took pictures, and published an article about it in the September 1972 NM Review. Folder has 1 large B&W photo of a man on a horse shaking hands with a man on the ground. Also 2 contact sheets with photos from that day. And all the negatives from that shoot (they include a picture of the Frontier Bar in Los Ojos, which I never entered, but it was inspiration for the Frontier Bar in The Milagro Beanfield War). And a page from the September Review with my article, "A Town Changes its Name." Article includes a couple of these photos.
  26. Folder 23: TAOS FIESTAS, JULY 1972 - These pictures were on the film with the Los Ojos pictures in folder just above. They feature Taos Mayor Phil Cantu speaking from the Plaza bandstand (Phil wears black-rimmed glasses), and a picture of my wife Ruby with daughter Tania in her arms, and with our kids Luke and Tania in her arms. 8 B&W negatives, and 11 B&W images on contact sheet.
  27. Folder 24: VIETNAMESE AND TEATRO CAMPESINO, ALBUQUERQUE OLD TOWN PLAZA, NOVEMBER 1972 - Photos of Vietnamese at Albuquerque Old Town Plaza anti war demonstration. Also Teatro Campesino. It was a front page article in the Nov. Review that I edited. Photos, negatives, Review included.
  28. Folder 25: VELASQUEZ FAMILY, STEVE POLACO, ENSENADA, NM, JULY 1980 - The Velasquez family, from Ensenada near Tierra Amarilla, was fighting the Munday corporation over rights to their land and water rights. A main spokesperson for the family was Steve Polaco. I wrote an article about their struggle for the Fall 1980 Taos Magazine: "Showdown in Ensenada." This folder has 5 large B&W photos I took of Steve Polaco, and of his family's land in Ensenada. There are 3 contact sheets of tiny B&W photos of Steve, his white dog Snowball, and his Ensenada land, with 42 prints on each page. Also included are all my B&W negatives from this shoot. (You can read all about Steve and his family's struggle in archival Box 89, Folder 21.)
  29. Folder 26: ERIC AVERY & BILL BECKER, NICARAGUA, DECEMBER 1983 - 2 large color photos (from slides) by JTN. My pal Bill Becker handing over his army canteen to a Sandinista soldier in solidarity with Nicaragua, with our guide, Noel Corea, between the two of them in BG. Other photo is of artist friend Eric Avery, seated on a stoop with our Sandinista guards. Both pictures from up near Honduran border, in or near Somoto. (For many more photos from Nicaragua go to my transparency files in Slide Box 15. For my writings on Nicaragua check out archival Box 90, Folder 11. Also Box 27, Folders 11-18.)
  30. Folder 26: STOCK POND, WEST MESA, SEPTEMBER 1984 - 1 large color photo and two oversize color negatives. You've seen one of these stock pond pictures you've seen 'em all. September 1984.
  31. Unfoldered: TROUT FRY INTO RIO GRANDE, LITTLE ARSENIC, FEBRUARY 1985 - 51 color snapshots of a trip down to Little Arsenic Springs, on horseback, with Game and Fish guys, led by Bob Ackroyd, to dump brown trout fry into the river. My friend Bob Ackroyd can be identified by his round, dark fur official cap. He is not wearing the cowboy hat or a baseball cap. Album includes all my color negatives from the trip. (For more photos--slides--of another trip with Ackroyd and my wife, Juanita, down to the river with trout fry, see my Slide Box 7, sleeves 19-21.)
  32. Folder 27: T.A. CLINICA HONORS CRAIG VINCENT, SEPTEMBER 1984 - I'm not sure if this celebration, on the Clinica's 15th Anniversary, was in July, August, or September 1984. This folder contains: 2 and 1/7th B&W contact sheets with 67 tiny pictures, total. And all my B&W negatives taken during the event. And 1 large B&W negative of the color photograph of Craig Vincent that I used in Last Beautiful Days of Autumn. Contact sheet photos show: María Varela, Clinica director Carol Miller, Moises Morales, and Jenny Vincent. Many pictures of Moises with Jenny, I guess he presented her with the award for Craig, who could not attend. Some pictures of the outside of the Clinica also.
  33. Folder 28: ANDRÉS MTNZ., PAUL VALERIO, BERNABÉ CHÁVEZ, FEBRUARY 1980 - 1 large color photo I took in February of 1980 of friends Paul (Polito) Valerio, Andrés Martínez, and Bernabé Chávez. At Andrés's trailer in Cañon area of Taos. All three men were very influential in the Tres Rios Association that fought the conservancy and the Indian Camp Dam in Taos during the 1970s. (More photos of these three men can be found in my archival Slide Box 30, Sleeve 5.)
  34. Folder 28: ANDRÉS MARTÍNEZ, MARCH 27, 1988 - TAOS "MILAGRO" OPENING - 5 color photos by Seth Roffman of me and Andrés on stage for the benefit opening of "The Milagro Beanfield War" in Taos. One photo has Paul Trujillo and Hattie Trujillo playing music for the occasion with two other men. Paul was an extra in the movie. Another photo has Andrés walking past the musicians. Folder includes a note from photographer Seth Roffman about the photos.
  35. Folder 28: ANDRÉS MARTÍNEZ IN HIS TAOS HOUSE, SUMMER 1989 - This is a lovely large B&W portrait, by Richard Khanlian, of Andrés Martínez in his living room, looking at a photo album, with his many framed photos and papers on a wall in the background, photos that include: the front cover of the November 1972 NM Review; Andrés atop Tres Orejas (from LBDA); and Andrés with Gene Weisfeld and Pacomio Mondragón and other Tres Rios guys at the Taos County Courthouse. This photo was sent to me by Pat d'Andrea in April 1991. The folder includes her cover letter.
  36. Folder 29: BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS AND NEGATIVES FOR ON THE MESA, 1986 - This folder has 5 little B&W photos of the mesa, and 27 negatives, used in the Gibbs Smith edition of On The Mesa published in 1986. Photos by JTN.
  37. Folder 30: "ON THE MESA" PHOTOS, 1986, AND 1 AUTHOR PHOTO BY JUANITA. - Folder has 14 of my B&W photos (from slides) of the Taos West Mesa, and one B&W "author photo" of me in my Taos back field taken by my wife, Juanita Nichols, probably in early 1986.
  38. Folder 31: "ON THE MESA" PHOTOS FOR 1995 ANCIENT CITY REPRINT - This folder has 39 B&W photos for the On The Mesa reprint by Ancient City Press in 1995. And 26 B&W negatives for those photos.
  39. Folder 32: GRAPHICS USED IN "DANCING ON THE STONES," 2000 - This folder has 1 color photo of me with tiny trout on Little Rio Grande taken by Mike Kimmel (circa 1982) and used on cover of Dancing On The Stones. Also: 1 large B&W photo by Maestri Smith of me on stomach at a parking lot puddle photographing the Ranchos Church during McSavaney Photo Workshop, August 1993. This picture was used in Dancing on the Stones. (To see my pictures of the church reflected in this "lake" go to my archival Slide Box 19, Sleeves 9 & 10.) Folder also contains my 8-photo montage of Reies Tijerina speechifying in Española on October 3, 1971, and published in the November 1971 NM Review (and in Dancing on the Stones); and 1 large B&W photo of Andrés Martínez staring at a golf course sprinkler in the Valle Escondido, summer 1972, that was used on front of September 1972 NM Review and also for the epilogue of Dancing on the Stones. Folder also contains 12 Xeroxes of photos and cartoons to be used possibly in Dancing on the Stones, and many of them were. Plus 8 really crummy B&W photos taken from negatives (included also) made from slides that aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

Dates

  • 1968-2000

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research, however, researchers must sign consent form prior to gaining access to materials. Calavera drawings, proofs, and etchings as well as "little diaries" (Boxes 14, 125, 126, 129, 142) are housed in high security and may require up to 24 hours for retrieval. Enlarged photocopies and typed transcriptions of "little diaries" in Box 142 are located in Box 184.

Extent

From the Collection: 184 boxes (172 cu. ft.)

Additional Description

General

Many of these photos are black and white, and were taken during the early 1970s when I was writing for the New Mexico Review, and, briefly in 1972, editing that monthly journal. During the few months that I was editor of the Review I had access to a darkroom and began learning how to develop my pictures. Then the Review died and I never had a darkroom again, which is a pity because I really liked having that magic at my fingertips. None of these pictures are "artistic." They were mostly an attempt to illustrate information or stories that I was writing. But they do provide a record of sorts.

Physical Storage Information

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository

https://library.unm.edu/cswr/index.php
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451

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