In August, a retired professional photographer from Los Alamos donated to the East Mountain Historical Society nine photographs that were taken in Golden, N.M. in 1895. Our graphics director Kathy Rich has digitized the prints so we can put some of them out for public view. We’re hoping someone can tell us stories about what they depict, because the photographer, Lou Erne, also presented us with a mystery.

Erne said he thought long and hard about where to donate these photos before he brought them to us. He said he didn’t know who originally took the pictures; they had been inherited by a couple who lived somewhere in the Midwest. Intrigued by the photographs of Golden, this couple decided 20 years ago to take a trip out West to see Golden for themselves.

On that trip, they stayed with friends in Albuquerque, who at the time were neighbors of Erne. Erne no longer remembers the names of the neighbors, nor does he know the identity of the couple from the Midwest.

He has these historic photos because during that visit 20 years ago, his neighbors asked him to make copies. He made negatives from the historic photos, and then made prints for his neighbors, and for himself and his own family.

He still has the negatives and is passing on nine of the prints to us. The originals went back to the Midwest with that unknown couple 20 years ago. If you can tell us anything about these photos, please contact me at president@eastmountainhistory.org.