Album: Carlsbad Caverns National Park Historic Photograph Collection

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

The Historic Photograph Collection was collected and documented by park staff throughout the twentieth century. Robert Nymeyer, Ennis C. “Tex” Helm, and Ray V. Davis are among the photographers whose work resides in the collection. Davis was the first photographer to document the caves in the 1910s, with White as his guide. His images helped convince the National Park Service to consider Carlsbad Caverns as a National Monument. Nymeyer was Davis’s apprentice, who later made a name for himself as a photographer. Helm was well-known for his record-breaking use of flash bulbs to photograph the Big Room in Carlsbad Cavern in 1952, in addition to his other photographs of the park. Park staff also contributed to the collection, documenting events, projects, expeditions, and park life. Several copies of most images exist in various formats which were historically arranged by negative number, Dewey Decimal number, and by subject, which the current organization reflects.