Skip to main content

Hugh Mitchell Jr. Photograph Collection

 Collection
Identifier: PICT-2015-004

Scope and Content

The Hugh Mitchell Jr. Pictorial Collection contains mostly aerial photographs of Albuquerque and surrounding towns and suburbs in New Mexico, as well as Arizona and Colorado. Aerial photos are of businesses, cityscapes, landscapes, agriculture, farms, various ranches (Burris, Broome, Parker, Bryan, Sais, Rainwater), rivers, airports, prisons, schools, residential neighborhoods and houses, power plants, the Sandia Mountains, train wrecks etc. There are also slides of ruins (Abo, Quarai, and Gran Quivira), Holloman Air Force Base, White Sands, petroglyphs, Albuquerque attractions, murals, museums, pueblos, Bandelier National Monument, Old Town, Sandia Tram, the Grand Canyon, etc. Also included are portraits of the Burris family who were well-known New Mexico ranchers. Most photographs are black & white 8 x 10 prints. There are some color photos and some smaller and larger prints, with the largest being 16 x 20 mostly color prints. Some of the towns featured are Belen, Los Lunas, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Isleta, Elephant Butte, Alamogordo, Silver City, Socorro, Truth or Consequences, San Antonio, San Acacio, Santa Fe, Flagstaff, Sedona, Bisbee, Colorado Springs, etc. A labeling system beginning in a series of letters and ending in numbers and dashes appear on the back of many photos and appears to be a location tracking system used in aerial photography.

Dates

  • 1963-2005
  • Majority of material found within 1963-2005

Access Restrictions

The collection is available for research.

Copy Restrictions

Copyright of the Hugh Mitchell Jr. Pictorial Collection has been transferred to UNM. User is responsible for copyright compliance. For more information see the Photographs and Images Research Guide and contact the Pictorial Archivist.

Biography

Colonel Hugh Mitchell Jr. (28 December 1926 - 6 September 2012), an aeronautical and electrical engineer and photographer, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, class of 1949. During his time in the Air Force, he served in Germany and Korea as a fighter pilot, in foreign technology, and research and development. After he retired from the United States Air Force, he became an aerial photographer in and around the Southwest and California both as a hobby and through a business, called AirPix. He passed away in 2012 at his home in Belen, NM.

Extent

2973 items (5 boxes) : 2973 photographic prints and film transparencies

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Collection contains aerial photographs of New Mexico and the surrounding states, ground level photos of attractions & historical sites, and Burris family portraits.

Physical Location

B2. Shelved by Pictorial Number. Oversize Box 5 shelved in Big Box location.

Collection Available Online

A small selection of the Hugh Mitchell Jr. Pictorial Collection is available in digital format from New Mexico Digital Collections.

Processing Information

The collection originally arrived in boxes, binders, and envelopes. It was processed into four boxes and one oversized box with several folders reflecting on the original envelope and box organization. Titles for folders and series were derived from Mitchell's labeling of each original container. The original order of the material was mostly maintained, but some photos were arranged into chronological order, by location, or both.
Title
Finding Aid of the Hugh Mitchell Jr. Photograph Collection, 1963-2005
Status
Edited Full Draft
Author
Eileen Price
Date
© 2015, 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid is in English

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