Photos can obscure as much as they reveal. When we encounter historic photographs, it can feel like we've entered the past through a portal. But like contemporary photographs, what is left out of the frame is as interesting and puzzling as what we can observe. Still, the donation of historic photos to any archive can only help to add to our knowledge and expand the questions we need to ask. This is certainly the case for the William Thomas Mullarky photo collection at the New Mexico History Museum's Palace of the Governors Photo Archive. The Mullarky collection has never been accessible until recently and they provide unusual and unexpected windows into 1930s Gallup, New Mexico.
For the Fall 2025 issue of El Palacio, University of New Mexico professor and labor historian, David Correia, wrote an article about the Gallup Coal Wars of 1933-35. Mullarky's photos of the events in Gallup at the time accompany Correia's words. For this episode of Encounter Culture, however, Correia talks about who Mullarky was and what makes his photos so out of the ordinary.
Discover more:
New Mexico History Museum Palace of the Governors Photo Archive
William Thomas Mullarky Photographs of the Gallup Coal War
Hear more on Encounter Culture:
A History of Genízaro Identity in the Heart of New Mexico with Dr. Gregorio Gonzales
The Promise of a Photo with Anthropologist Robert Quintana Hopkins and Archivist Hannah Abelbeck, New Mexico History Museum
Read more in El Palacio:
"Strike and Struggle: The Great Gallup Coal War, 1933-35," by David Correia Fall 2025 issue of El Palacio
Learn more:
An Enemy Such as This: Larry Casuse and the Fight for Native Liberation in One Family on Two Continents over Three Centuries, by David Correia
Edward Curtis photographs (as example of "frontier photography")
Simeon Schwemberger photo collection at The University of New Mexico
J.R. Willis
Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial
Center for Southwest Research at The University of New Mexico
The Myth of Santa Fe, by Chris Wilson (UNM Press)
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Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio MagazineExecutive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. RuizRecording Engineer: Collin Ungerleider and Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa FeEditor & Production Manager: Alex RieglerAssociate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D'Santi Nava
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