C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Image Collections

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a multi-cultural educational institution located on the U.S.-Mexico border.  As part of the effort to document the unique cultural environment of the El Paso area, the University Library’s C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department collects the work of nineteenth- and twentieth-century El Paso photographers.  The images included in the holdings consist predominantly of original photographs in the form of negatives, prints, and positive transparencies.  Other digitized holdings include mechanically reproduced postcards, posters, and printed text materials.  Many of the photographs are portraits from local studios, but they also document the built and natural environment of the borderlands, events and people of the Mexican Revolution, Pershing’s Punitive Expedition into Mexico, and other military topics.  Another major area in the collection is the extensive number of photographs from local newspapers covering a broad range of local topics.