The Nevada State Archives has an extensive collection of photographs dating back to the founding of the state in 1864. These photos consist of varied subject matter--landscapes, portraits, candid scenes, and surveying trips. Some of these can be found on our Digital Collections website. Copies or access photographs not on the website will require a trip to the archives. These photographs offer pictorial evidence of our state and its diversity.
Most of the photos were created by state agencies in the course of normal business and consist of cartes-de-visite, prints on paper, film and glass plate negatives, and electronic files. Current access is through an in-house database. Not all available photographs have been scanned nor is all the information about our photos online at this time.
To facilitate public access the Archives staff created contact sheets of, and identification reports for, selected subjects and state agencies. Most of the scanned photos are at a resolution of either 75 or 100 dpi; if you require a higher resolution or would like to request the use of images for publication, please contact us.
Each photo is identified by a unique code (example: CCC-0001) that allows us to find the image more easily. This code is listed on the attached contact sheets that have been created for 'Carson City' and 'Events'.
John Nulty was employed by the Nevada Secretary of State's office, but his avocation was photography and he had a photo developing laboratory in the basement of the State Capitol building. Much of his time was spent capturing on film the officials, employees, buildings, and activities of state government. He also photographed many private businesses, houses, and other buildings in Carson City and the surrounding area, including aerials views of the capital city; and private citizens during special occasions such as anniversaries, weddings, and grand openings of businesses.
The John Nulty collection of photographs consists of 3,191 prints and negatives dating from approximately 1947-1975 with the bulk dates ranging from 1958-1967. The collection is almost entirely negatives which are arranged alphabetically by subject:
The Nulty prints are also arranged by topic. When a matching negative was located it was placed with the print. There are a few color prints but most are black and white. The sizes vary from 2x2" to 8x10". Subjects include:
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