“Dance, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, 1942,” two Indians descending wooden stairs, carrying drums another Indian and child near by. Mesa Verde cliff dwellings in Southern Colorado. Moran.Īfternoon photo of Grand Canyon National Park. Moran, Teton National Park,” view across river valley toward Mt. Summertime in Glacier National Park, Montana. Panorama of Canyon de Chelly valley from atop a mountain. Looking across water at the Boulder dam, now known as the Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River. These photos may still be under copyright protection.Īn adobe house in Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico In addition, there are eight photographs taken by Adams of Yosemite in the General Photographic Files of the National Park Service. For many, photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984) offers an introduction to the splendors of the American West, particularly Yosemite National Park, in all their rugged beauty. The one photograph of Yosemite was a gift from Adams to the head of the Park Service, Horace Albright, in 1933.

These prints were added by Adams to the mural project. The Kings Canyon photographs were taken in 1936 when the establishment of the park was being proposed. Many of the latter locations show Navajo and Pueblo Indians, their homes and activities. Other pictures were taken at the Boulder Dam Acoma Pueblo, NM San Idelfonso, NM Taos Pueblo, NM Tuba City, AZ Walpi, AZ and Owens Valley, CA. They were taken at the Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Kings Canyon, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Carlsbad Caverns, Glacier, and Zion National Parks Death Valley, Saguaro, and Canyon de Chelly National Monuments. The holdings of the National Archives Still Picture Branch include 226 photographs taken for this project, most of them signed and captioned by Adams. The project was halted because of World War II and never resumed. The theme was to be nature as exemplified and protected in the U.S. In 1941 the National Park Service commissioned noted photographer Ansel Adams to create a photo mural for the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, DC.

Ansel adams national parks