Rio Grande Historical Collections

The Faithist movement was founded by a New York dentist and doctor named John B. Newbrough, who claimed to have written a new Bible, called Oahspe, while under spirit control. Contained in this Bible was "The Book of Shalam," which set forth a plan for gathering the outcast and orphaned children of the world and raising them, according to strict religious principles, to be the spiritual leaders of a new age. Newbrough and some twenty Faithists, as his followers were called, decided to create such a place as described in "The Book of Shalam." In 1884, Shalam Colony was established on the banks of the Rio Grande, one mile from the village of Dona Ana. Financed by a wealthy wool merchant from Boston, Andrew Howland, the colony was developed into one of the finest agricultural areas of the Southwest. Nearly a million dollars was spent to build and furnish fine buildings and maintain a herd of prize dairy cattle, build a chicken farm with heated runs, and develop a reservoir and irrigation system which was far ahead of its time. Disaster befell the colony in 1891 when John Newbrough died of influenza. The work of the Faithists did not end when Shalam was closed in 1901. A colony was established around Denver in the early 1900s, and some people from Shalam went to California. It was in Los Angeles that Wing Anderson met the Faithists. He bought the printing plates and the copyright for Oahspe in 1933 and published Oahspe until his death in 1970. Under Wing's direction, a community was established in North Salt Lake, Utah, in the 1930s. The people called themselves the Essenes of Kosmon. In the early 1940s, the group moved to Montrose, Colorado. That colony closed in the 1950s. Another colony effort was Otis Acres, established in Arizona in the 1950s. There have been several Faithist publications over the years. The earliest was the Kosmon Pioneer Bulletin, put out from Utah, and later Colorado. The Faithist Journal was published in Kingman, Arizona; and the Kosmon Voice, which was originally put out in Salt Lake City, but has moved to Nebraska.

From the description of Faithist and Oahspe collection, 1882-1998. (New Mexico State University). WorldCat record id: 69193576

William Henry Brown

William Henry Brown (1844-December 19, 1886) was the son of Nicholas Brown with whom he traveleded to Santa Fe in 1866 and worked with as a photographer until a trip to Chihuahua, Mexico in1867. Henry Brown stayed in Chihuahua to run a studio until 1869 and then returned to Santa Fe. In early 1880, Brown partnered with George C. Bennett. Brown also worked with Genevus and John Burke and his wife Fannie. Brown did work with the New Mexico Historical Society making portraits of Territorial notables. Some of Brown's work can be found at the University of New Mexico.

J.C. Burge

J.C. Burge (ca. 1839 - Jan. 1, 1897) was active as a photographer in the Arizona, New Mexico and El Paso areas. He was also extensively involved in lodge activities. His work can be found at the Branigan Memorial Library in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Burge images are contained within the Black Range Museum Collection, depicting in particular the Hillsboro-Kingston mining area.

D.B. Chase

Dana B. Chase ( -ca. 1897) took pictures of various Colorado and New Mexico locations around 1873-1897. Some of Chase's pictures are also kept in the Museum of New Mexico and the Albuquerque Public Library.

T.H. O'Sullivan

Timothy O'Sullivan was born circa 1840. Apprenticed to photographer Mathew Brady, he took photographs during the American Civil War and was included in the first published collection of civil war photographs. He was photographer for the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, the first survey of the American West, and srved as chief photographer for the United States of America. He died of tuberculosis in 1882.

W.H. Jackson

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) fought in the American Civil War, including at the battle of Gettysburg. After the war, he joined the Oregon Trail. He won a commission from the Union Pacific Railroad to document the scenery for promotional reasons. On an expedition with Ferdinand Hayden, Jackson took pictures of the Grand Tetons, Old Faithful, and the rest of Yellowstone. Jackson also took pictures of the Anasazi dwellings at Mesa Verde, Colorado. Jackson went to Washington, D.C. in 1924 and produced murals of the Old West for the U.S. Department of Interior and was an advisor for the movie Gone with the Wind. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery.

George Benjamin Wittick

For 25 years, George Benjamin Wittick made a photographic record of western landscapes and southwestern native peoples, including Apache and Navajo war chiefs, Indian army scouts.Ben Wittick was one of the first to photograph the Hopi snake dance ceremony. Wittick joined the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in 1878 from Illinois to document western landscapes and Southwestern native people. He documented the native American population until his death at Fort Wingate, New Mexico in 1903.

Sources: Rudisill, Richard. Photographers of the New Mexico Territory, 1854-1912. Albuquerque: Museum of New Mexico. 1973. http://museum.utep.edu/archive/history/DDwittick.htm http://www.vintagephoto.com/reference/azphotohistory.htm http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/bio/a1928-1.html

From the guide to the Rio Grande Historical Collections southwest photograph collection, circa 1860-1900, circa 1860-1900, (Archives and Special Collections. New Mexico State University Library.)