The Center for Southwest Research Pictorial Collection (formerly Photoarchives) contain some 80,000 images dating from the mid-1850s to the recent past. Many of the photographs are directly related to the CSWR Manuscripts collections. The collection is subject oriented with a focus on the histories of New Mexico, the Southwest, and Latin America. Subjects represented include Hispanic and American Indian cultures, mining, ranching, railroads, political leaders, artists, writers, and the visual histories of Albuquerque and other localities in New Mexico.
The collection is available for viewing through the Anderson Reading Room during regular hours. Photo duplication and scanning services are available.
Major collections within Pictorial Collections include the Cobb Memorial Collection (history of Albuquerque ca. 1870-1940), the Henry A. Schmidt Collection (life in the mining communities of Southern New Mexico ca. 1890-1920), and the Atlantic & Pacific Railway Collection (construction of the A&P from New Mexico to California ca 1880). Also included in Pictorial Collections are important collections of popular prints, including the Holland Collection of Word War II posters, the Fernando Gamboa Collection of Mexican popular prints by Jose Guadalupe Posada, and a collection of broadsheets, posters and other publications from the Taller de Grafica Popular.
Finding aids to the Pictorial collections are available via the Rocky Mountain Online Archive. A selection of digitized materials from Pictorial collections are available in the University Library's Digital Collections.