J. STOKLEY LIGON PAPERS

Due to the loss of the bulk of Ligon's professional papers by a flood at his parents’ home and others discarded during his lifetime, the selection of papers in the collection provide a sampling of Ligon's work with the Bureau of Biological Survey for the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (1913-1926; 1938-1950), and the New Mexico State Game Department (1927-1938). These papers include correspondence sent and received by Ligon while working as a game specialist in New Mexico for the New Mexico State Game Department. Most of the files relate to wildlife refuges and game management, with some containing more personal greetings from colleagues. In addition, the papers include reports, articles, and speeches written by Ligon on the topics of game management, predator control, game reserves, and refuges in New Mexico. Papers in the collection date from 1916-2011, with the bulk of the materials from between 1927-1937. Some biographical data and information about Ligon's education, as well as an abbreviated list of his publications and work history, are also included.

The greater part of the collection is made up of approximately 2,500 original glass plate, nitrate, and safety film negatives with approximately 1,100 black and white prints. Most of the images were taken by Ligon between circa 1909-1954 at locations in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota, Alaska, Texas, and Mexico. The photographs document Ligon’s personal interests, his work for the U.S. Biological Survey and the New Mexico Game Department, and his breeding of game birds at his farm near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Subjects include: government hunters, eradication of predatory animals, hunting, town and ranch life, birds, management and breeding of indigenous bird population, railroads, local scenery, prehistoric Indian sites, still lifes, trains, bridges, soil erosion, and collections of historic and pre-historic artifacts. Nitrate negatives in the collection have been frozen for preservation.

A number of photo indexes (some being fragmented versions of copies) compiled by Ligon during his lifetime are also included in the collection. These indexes help to document the title, subject, place, and date for most of the images. For clarity, a master numeric index has been compiled based on information found in the original, chronological indexes and notations written by Ligon on both the front and back sides of many of the photographs. The prints and negatives are arranged numerically in a system devised by Ligon, but do not, unfortunately, represent Ligon's arrangement of many of the photographs in the albums which originally housed the prints. At some time in the past, the prints were detached from their pages and the original albums were discarded.

Although the bulk of J. Stokley Ligon's professional papers no longer exist, the files in this series provide a sampling of documents which help to characterize his professional work. Included are correspondence, reports, and articles generated during his tenure with the Bureau of Biological Science of the United States Department of Agriculture (1916-1927, 1938-1950) and New Mexico State Game Department (1927-1938).

Additional files help document the acquisition and creation of this collection by Arthur H. Carhart of Denver Public Library's Conservation Library Center in the 1960s. Some biographical information documenting Ligon's background, education, and work history, as well as an abbreviated list of his publications, are included.

The series contains various original indexes kept by Ligon to organize and help document the more than 3,400 images taken by him between 1909 to 1956. Ligon compiled handwritten photographic indexes between the years 1909-1926 and again in 1954 and 1956. Notebooks number 2 (1912-1914) and number 3 (1914-1921), as well as a typed index (1921-1926), and later, shorter ones (1954, 1956) are included in the collection. The typed index (1921-1926) was probably compiled by Ligon from a now lost handwritten notebook 4 (and 5?), page fragments of which still exist in the collection. Starting in the 1930s, Ligon abandoned his use of separate notebook indexes and instead wrote dates and descriptive information on the back of each print. The indexes help document the title, subject, place, and date for the greater portion of the images in the collection. Some of Ligon's original handwritten indexes contained errors with duplicate numbers and misattributions.

For easier access to existing prints and negatives, a master numeric index has been compiled and collated from information found in Ligon's original, chronological indexes and from his handwritten notes on the verso and recto of many of the photographs. The index also lists information for images with numbers that are no longer represented by either a negative or print.

Additional items in this series are examples of glass plate and nitrate negative storage boxes and albums used by Ligon.

Photographs in the collection provide a visual representation of 2,140 of the more than 3,400 black-and-white images taken by Ligon between circa 1909-1956. Print dimensions fall primarily into two sizes: 5 x 7" and 3 1/4 x 5 1/2."

Included in this series are approximately 82 prints without identifying numbers (NN). Many of these prints contain descriptive and date information written on their verso. Others contain no information and are grouped together based on content. The "NN" photos are also listed and described in their own section of the the master index.

Many of the surviving prints in this series were originally housed in two or three photograph albums donated to the conservation library by Rose Ligon in 1963. The prints were later detached and separated from their original pages/albums sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s. As it is no longer possible to recreate the arrangement utilized by Ligon when he created these albums, the prints are now arranged numerically according to the original negative/print numbers assigned to them by Ligon.

J. Stokley Ligon is known to have taken more than 3,400 images during his lifetime. Of these, approximately 1,510 are glass plate negatives and roughly 1,890 are nitrate negatives. Negatives in this series are arranged numerically, with some alphabetical annotations, based on a numbering system devised by Ligon.

Between circa 1909 and 1919, Ligon numbered his 5 x 7" glass plate negatives #1-790. Starting in May 1914 with the use of the smaller 3 1/4 x 5 1/2" size negatives, he restarted his numbering system. The 3 1/4 x 5 1/2" negatives (with some 5 x 7" additions), both glass plate and nitrate, are numbered #1-2477.

Of the black-and-white glass plate negatives, approximately 609 out of the original 790 5 x 7" and 650 of the original 808 3 1/4 x 5 1/2" negatives taken between circa 1909 and January 1, 1921, are still extant in the collection. Starting in May 1914, around the time that Ligon acquired his Kodak Premo Special camera, he alternately used nitrate film or glass plates. He later switched exclusively to nitrate in the Spring of 1921. Nitrate negatives taken by Ligon totaled about 1,890, of which more than 1,500 are included in this collection.

An additional 73 nitrate negatives labeled under the headings: "NN" and "NP" are included in this series. Approximately 50 of these images, NNs, were taken and described by Ligon on their corresponding prints, but were not numbered. The remaining 23 nitrate negatives, NPs, are attributed to Ligon based on image content, but their provenance is unproven.

Nitrate negatives in the collection have been frozen for preservation.