Photographs of New Mexico outdoor recreation, ghost towns, sporting events, and other Southwest scenes are now available for browsing online in the newly digitized Karl Kernberger Photograph Collection at the New Mexico History Museum. The project supports the History Museum’s ongoing goal of making physical photo collections increasingly accessible and reusable.
“We were looking for a smart way to provide access to a large collection that previously had no digital presence,” said Hannah Abelbeck, Curator of Photographs and Archival Collections. “When we uploaded the contact sheets, I saw images of ghost towns, but I also spotted images I didn’t expect, including photographs from a local press conference on prison conditions. I hope others uncover images they find interesting, engaging, or relevant.”
After working as a staff photographer at the Museum of New Mexico, Karl Kernberger (1938-1997) became an award-winning photographer and filmmaker active in New Mexico, Mexico, and the west. His photographic collection at the New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) covers subjects including social and environmental concerns, Indigenous communities in New Mexico and the Southwest, rock art, music, ghost towns, cultural and sporting events, and the increasing popularity of outdoor recreation, among other topics. Kernberger also collaborated with his childhood friend J. Michael Jenkinson on three books, Ghost Towns of New Mexico, Land of Clear Light, and Wild Rivers of North America, which showcased his photographs.
NMHM received a grant from the New Mexico Historical Records Advisory Board to improve the care of and access to Kernberger’s collection. The collection contains approximately 24,000 negatives, 1,625 contact sheets, 155 prints, and 64 reels of moving image film. As an outcome of the grant, project archivist Hall Frost also digitized and posted Kernberger’s contact sheets, making it easier for researchers to preview images from the collection. Frost will give a presentation, “Out There Adventure: The Photographs of Karl Kernberger,” during a Late-Night Friday event on May 16, 2025, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
More information about the Karl Kernberger Photograph Collection can be found at https://nmarchives.unm.edu/repositories/20/resources/4415. Browsable contact sheets from the Karl Kernberger Photograph Collection can be found at https://archives.newmexicoculture.org/karl-kernberger-photograph-collection.