Title: Ancient Pueblo Town of Zuni, Western New Mexico, "In this town there may be some 200 houses, all compassed with walls; and I think that with the rest of the houses, which are not so walled, there may be some 500. They are very excellent, good houses, of three or four or five lofts high, wherein are good lodgings and fair chambers, with ladders instead of stairs. The people of this town seem to me of reasonable stature and witty. In this place is found some quantity of gold and silver, very good; also turquoise ear-rings, combs, and tablets set with turquoise. That which these Indians worship is the water, for they say it causeth their corn to grow. Coronado, Captain General, 1540."

Creator/Contributor: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882 (photographer)

Date issued: 1869 (approximate)

Date created: 1867 (approximate)

Physical description: 1 photographic print : albumen ; image 15 x 20.3 cm.

Genre: Albumen prints; Portrait photographs

Subjects: Zuni Indians; Indians of North America; Cities & towns; Pueblos; Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico

Notes: On March 9, 1869 a joint resolution of Congress authorized the changing of the Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division's name to the Kansas Pacific Railway Company.; Although all of the photographs published in Across the Continent on the Kansas Pacific Railroad (Route of the 35th Parallel) are attributed to Gardner, some of the images may have been taken by one of the other photographers Gardner supervised on the expedition. "As official photographer for the expedition, Gardner was allowed to published all the expedition photographs under his name. In 1867 he stated in a deposition that although a photograph was identified on the mount as a 'Photograph by A. Gardner,' it simply meant that it was printed or copied in his gallery; he was not necessarily the photographer. The other photographers on the expedition were Dr. William A. Bell, William R. Pywell, and Gardner's son, Lawrence, who apprenticed on the expedition." [Katz, D. Mark (1991). Witness to an era: the life and photographs of Alexander Gardner: the Civil War, Lincoln, and the West. Nashville, Tennessee: Rutledge Hill. Page 220]; Images most likely published in 1869. "Along with images made by photographers under his [Alexander Gardner's] supervision, his photographs were published in an album titled Across the Continent on the Kansas Pacific Railyway (Route of the 35th Parallel), offered for sale on April, 1869." [Marien, Mary Warner (2006). Photography: a cultural history. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd. Page 132]

Item/Page/Plate: No. 83

Source: Across the continent on the Kansas Pacific Railroad: route of the 35th parallel / Alex. Gardner, photographer.