[Vernacular Family Photograph Album Featuring Numerous Images of Troops and Military Life During the Early-20th Century Border War in Texas and New Mexico]

[Various locations including Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico, 1920. Very good.. [40] leaves, illustrated with 256 black-and-white, sepia-toned images, cyanotypes, real photo postcards, cabinet cards, and other photographic formats, both studio-produced and vernacular, ranging from 1.75 x 2.75 inches to 8.5 x 6.5 inches, pasted in or mounted in corners, many with manuscript captions. Oblong quarto. Contemporary black cloth photograph album, string-tied. Modest edge wear and dust-soiling to the album. A few leaves detached, two leaves cut in half, one leaf partially torn costing part of a caption, minor wear to some photos, but overall a very nice group. (truncated) A fascinating collection of photographs likely compiled by a soldier identified only as "Jack," possibly a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1905 and 1920. Many of the images emanate from military camps in Texas and New Mexico during the time of the Mexican Revolution and the border war activities such as the Punitive Expedition, with some of the captions identifying the soldiers as members of various engineering companies. The military images are interspersed throughout the first two-thirds of the album and include the compiler and his tent at Mescalero, army tents at a camp in the Sacramento Mountains in New Mexico, the Rio Grande and Mt. Franklin at El Paso, numerous images at Camp Stewart, at least one at Camp Baker, various members of the Army cavalry, a tank-like vehicle in El Paso, an Army aeroplane on the New Mexico border, and more. One of the more interesting but culturally-insensitive images is a shot of the compiler and four of his Army buddies posed for the camera, with the caption reading, "An Englishman, Scotchman, Wap, Jew and Irishman."

There is also a wealth of non-military imagery, comprised of photographic portraits of family members and friends, trips to California and Colorado (including Insmont, Platte Canyon, the Platte River, and Cripple Creek), with scenes of fishing and playing sports. Some of the most interesting images document a train wreck at Platte Canyon. Others show western missions, Native American teepees, and other rural western settings. The rear of the album contains several large studio cabinet card images and a handful of later photographs of the soldier-compiler. Most of the studio portraits, some featuring the compiler, carry Pennsylvania studio marks, from where the compiler likely hailed.

A unique photographic record of Army service along the Texas border, with numerous additional images of the Far West. (Inventory #: 2600)