Photograph album of scenes in northern and central Mexico, 1880s.

Format
Visual material
Description
1 v. ; 26 x 24 cm.

Details

Subject(s)
Library of Congress genre(s)
Getty AAT genre
Compiled/​Created
1880s.
Biographical/​Historical note
William Henry Jackson (1842-1943) was commissioned in 1883 to document the route of the newly opened Mexican Central Railroad from El Paso del Norte on the border of Texas and New Mexico to Mexico City. He returned to Mexico in 1884 to finish his work on the rail line and proceeded to document the cities through which the railroad passed as well as other cities and towns in Mexico. This album in one of the largest known collections of Jackson's photographs of Mexico. It is expanded by the work of Abel Briquet and other unidentified professional photographers of the period. Briquet was a French photographer who also arrived in Mexico in 1883 with a commission to record the ports of Mexico. He soon settled in Mexico City and is considered to be Mexico's first professional photographer.
Summary note
Album of 91 photographs of scenes in Mexico, assembled in the 1880s. The images are by William Henry Jackson, Abel Briquet, and unidentified photographers. 61 of the photographs are by Jackson, with his titles and numbers in the 2000, 5000, and 6000 ranges. Nine are by Briquet, and the rest are uncredited professional images. The subjects include street scenes, city views, churches and other public buildings, people working, etc. The album is arranged in the following order: El Paso del Norte (2); Chihuahua (17); Zacatecas (10); Guanajuato (13); San Luis Potosí (23); Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco (7); Leon, Guanajuato (1); Iraputo, Guanajuato (1); Villa Lerdo, Durango (9); Toluca, Mexico (5); Maravaterio, Michoacán (1); and Tula, Hidalgo (2). Some specific subjects include: Cathedral at El Paso del Norte; Chihuahua from the Casa de Monedo; Street Merchants, Chihuahua; Mexican Laundry, Chihuahua; The Fountain, Zacatecas; The Chapel of the Bufa, Zacatecas; Mina de Sn. Rafael, Guanajuato; Street Scene; Guanajuato, Mina de Sn. Javier; Church of Carmen. San Luis Potosi; Aguadors at the Fountain. San Luis Potosi; In the Marketplace. San Luis Potosi; Along the River at Lagos; Irapuato Plaza de Armas; Villa Lerdo, Centro de la Plaza; Toluca. Cerro del Calvario; and Tula. Street View and Church. Among the uncredited images are nine large (7 3/4 x 9 1/4) views of remarkable unrehearsed street scenes in Villa Lerdo (now Ciudad Lerdo), Durango. Album in gilt leather and cloth, 10 1/4 x 13 1/2 inches. With "ALBUM" stamped in gilt on front cover. The majority of images are cabinet-card size, ca. 41/2 x 7 1/2 inches, some slightly larger or smaller.
Source acquisition
Purchase, 2014. AM 2014-70.
Publications about
On the work of Jackson and Briquet in Mexico, see Olivier Debroise, Mexican Suite: A History of Photography in Mexico, pp. 76 - 82. .
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