61 Amazing Vintage Photos of Everyday Life in New Mexico during WWII

   

These photos were needy lives but full of joy of people in New Mexico in the early 1940s. They were taken by photographer John Collier Jr..

A boy reading in one-room school in an isolated mountainous Hispanic community, Ojo Sarco, New Mexico, 1943

 

A dance, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943
 
A family around the kiva fireplace, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

A family in front of kiva fireplace, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

A family in front of their kiva fireplace, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943
 
 
A gunsmith as well as a cattleman chatting in front of his shop, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943

 

A Hispanic family in their wagon, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
A man and his wife studying maps of the world, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

A man with his family, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
A ninety-nine-year-old man reading in his room, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

A nurse and an interpreter trying to reach a patient's house beyond passable roads, Llano Quemado, New Mexico 1943

 

A nurse from the clinic operated by the Taos County cooperative health association, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943
 
A stockman churning butter after a hard day in the saddle, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943

 

A young nurse lying on bed, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

An old Hispanic couple, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
Around the woodstove in the general store, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Boy with his chemistry set, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943

 

Children asleep in their bed, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
Children in Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Christmas Eve pageant, New Mexico, 1942

 

Congregation leaving after mass, San José de Gracia, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943
 
 
Congregation leaving after mass, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Cutting and splitting wood for the fireplace and the cook stove, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Dentist making an extraction, Questa, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
Dinner in the kitchen, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943

 

Doing homework on the kitchen table, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Doing the family washing, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943
 
 
Emergency transport, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

Father and parishioners, Taos County, New Mexico, 1943

 

Father giving a sermon in Spanish, San José de Gracia, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943
 
Father on a field trip with a boy scout troop in Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

Going to the mountains for wood, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Gunsmith at work, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
Harnessing up the team to get ready for a trip to the mountains in order to collect for wood, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Harnessing up the teams, ready for a trip to the mountains for wood, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Hispanic boy in the grade school, Questa, New Mexico, 1943
 
 
Homework on the ranch, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943

 

In front of the general store, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

In Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

In the general store, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
In the one-room school, Ojo Sarco, New Mexico, 1943

 

Leaving church on Sunday, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

Listening to folk songs, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1943

 

Man and his son cut down a dead tree for firewood, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
Man and his son drawing water from the river, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Men rebuilding house roof, Ojo Sarco, New Mexico, 1943

 

Mother helping her children with their homework, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Mother helping her children with their homework, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
Old woman in her room, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

Orchestra at a dance, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943

 

Pitching hay into a hay rack for winter feeding, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943

 

Sewing, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

 
Snow being melted down for wash water, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Sorting beans for the morning meal, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Spinning wool by the light of the fire, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

Starting out on the range in a snowstorm, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943
 
Students in front of one-room school, Ojo Sarco, New Mexico, 1943

 

The keeper of the general store, Trampas, New Mexico, 1943

 

The radio is the only contact with the outside world, Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943
 
 
Troop of boy scouts, Taos County, New Mexico, 1943

 

Writing to a boyfriend in the United States Army, Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico, 1943