Henry A. Schmidt Photograph Collection
Collection
Identifier: PICT-000-179
Scope and Content
The Henry A. Schmidt Collection consists of photographs made between 1887 and 1924. A complete set of contact prints was made from the original glass plate negatives in the mid-1960s.
Major subject areas in the Schmidt Collection are: mining, ranching, rural and small town life, landscapes, still lifes, and portraits--including those of Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, African Americans, women, miners, ranchers, and frontier families.
Unlike the more polished and conventionalized likenesses produced by metropolitan studios, Schmidt's portraits often have an informal quality. His photographs made outside the studio provide us an image of the work and leisure of ordinary people living their everyday lives in the small mining towns and rural ranching areas of southern New Mexico at the turn of the century. The usefulness of the information in these images is increased by the clarity and quality of the photographs.
Series 1: Portraits (1887-1924)
This series contains studio portraits of men, women and children.
Series 2: Outdoor scenes (1887-1924)
This series consists of outdoor photographs of individuals and groups,activities and events,cowboys, ranching, cavalry, prospecting and mining, buildings, cityscapes, landscapes, animals and plants.
Series 3: Textual material (1887-1967)
This series contains photocopies provided by Raymond Schmidt (Henry's son). Photocpies include correspondence from Gustav Cramer, uncle of Henry and St. Louis photographer; articles about Henry, Raymond, and articles that likely included Schmidt's photographs; and Schmidt's photographer's diaries/logs.
Major subject areas in the Schmidt Collection are: mining, ranching, rural and small town life, landscapes, still lifes, and portraits--including those of Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, African Americans, women, miners, ranchers, and frontier families.
Unlike the more polished and conventionalized likenesses produced by metropolitan studios, Schmidt's portraits often have an informal quality. His photographs made outside the studio provide us an image of the work and leisure of ordinary people living their everyday lives in the small mining towns and rural ranching areas of southern New Mexico at the turn of the century. The usefulness of the information in these images is increased by the clarity and quality of the photographs.
Series 1: Portraits (1887-1924)
This series contains studio portraits of men, women and children.
Series 2: Outdoor scenes (1887-1924)
This series consists of outdoor photographs of individuals and groups,activities and events,cowboys, ranching, cavalry, prospecting and mining, buildings, cityscapes, landscapes, animals and plants.
Series 3: Textual material (1887-1967)
This series contains photocopies provided by Raymond Schmidt (Henry's son). Photocpies include correspondence from Gustav Cramer, uncle of Henry and St. Louis photographer; articles about Henry, Raymond, and articles that likely included Schmidt's photographs; and Schmidt's photographer's diaries/logs.
Dates
- 1887-1967
Creator
- Schmidt, Henry A. (Person)
Language of Materials
English
Access Restrictions
The collection is available on microBox as well as modern printed photographs, and glass plate negatives. Contact the CSWR pictorial archivists to view the glass plate negatives.
Copy Restrictions
Duplication of print and photographic material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for copyright compliance. For more information see the Photographs and Images Research Guide and contact the Pictorial Archivist.
Biography
Henry A. Schmidt (19 January 1861 - 31 August 1944) emigrated from Germany in 1878 and settled in Chloride, New Mexico in 1882 working as an assayer for the mining camps. He served in the militia during the Apache Uprising of 1885 and later became commander of the Indian War Veterans of New Mexico. In 1889 he married Edith Holmes, of Chloride and they had four children, Edwin (1890 - 1965), Harry (1893 - circa 1895), Amy (1895-?), and Raymond (1897 - 1996). Mining was his primary work, but he was also an assayer, chemist, and metallurgist. Though a miner, his heart was in photography. As an avocation, he operated a photographic studio in Chloride, New Mexico and was an active photographer in the area from 1890 to 1924. He produced hundreds of portraits, and also did landscape work of excellent quality. He died in 1944 at the age of 83 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. A.J. Duriez, of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Extent
2032 plus items (75 boxes, 17 microboxes) : 1016 photographs, 1016 glass plate negatives, textual material, microforms
Abstract
The Henry A. Schmidt Collection consists of glass plate negatives of people and landscapes made by Schmidt in and around the southwestern New Mexican mining town of Chloride.
Arrangement of the Collection
The materials in the collection organized into three series by subject and format.
Physical Location
B2. Shelved by Pictorial Number. Box 75 shelved in Big Box location by Pictorial Number. MicroBox available in the Anderson Reading Room
Select Photos Available Online
A portion of the Henry A. Schmidt Photograph Collection is available in digital format from New Mexico Digital Collections.
Processing Information
Identification information was compiled from notations made by the photographer on the original negative enclosures and supplemented by his son, Raymond Schmidt. Dates were attributed, based on those given on the photos, in the photographer's logs, City Directories, and by comparison with other, dated photographs. Unless preceded by the original glass plate negative number recorded in the photographer's log, dates should be considered estimates.
- African Americans -- Military service -- Pictorial works
- Cavalry -- New Mexico -- Pictorial works
- Chinese -- New Mexico -- Pictorial works
- Chloride (N.M.) -- Pictorial works
- Dry collodion negatives
- El Paso (Tex.) -- Pictorial works
- Fairview (N.M.) -- Pictorial works
- Frontier and pioneer life -- Pictorial works
- Hispanic-Americans -- New Mexico -- Pictorial works
- Mining -- New Mexico -- Pictorial works
- Monticello (N.M.) -- Pictorial works
- Motorcyles -- Pictorial works
- Photographs
- Ranching -- New Mexico -- Pictorial works
- Winston (N.M.) -- Pictorial works
Creator
- Schmidt, Henry A. (Person)
- Title
- Finding Aid of the Henry A. Schmidt Photograph Collection, 1887-1967
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Stella de Sa Rego & Eileen Hogan
- Date
- © 2014
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
- Sponsor
- Funding provided by the University of New Mexico Libraries, Center for Regional Studies
Revision Statements
- Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
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
cswrref@unm.edu
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
cswrref@unm.edu