This Side of the Border: The Mexican Revolution through the Lens of American Photographer Otis A. Aultman
Tara Carlisle University of North Texas Libraries
Otis Aultman Collection on the Portal to Texas History
In 2009, El Paso Public Library’s Archivist Marta Estrada received a grant from UNT Libraries to digitize a portion of their Otis Aultman Photograph Collection and added to The Portal to Texas History.
El Paso Public Library’s collection on the Portal consists of more than 500 digitized glass plate negative photographs that documents the Mexican Revolution through the eyes of Mr. Aultman, many of which have not been seen for a century.
Otis Aultman (1874 – 1943) Photographer In 1910, Otis Aultman heads to the bustling town of El Paso ripe with opportunity. The Mexican Revolution: Background Mexican President Porfirio Diaz
. President of Mexico, (1876 – 1911)
. Modernized Mexico, dams, roads, rail
. 15,000 miles of rail throughout Mexico by 1910
. 7 in 10 were farmers but only 2% of them owned land Francisco Madero (1873 - 1913 )
In 1911, Madero, politician, writer, and revolutionary , seized control of Mexico from longtime dictator Profirio Diaz. The Revolution: 1910 – 1920’s Mexican Government Rebels/Commanders • 1876 – 1911 • 1910-1911 Porfirio Diaz Francisco Madero Bernardo Reyes Pascual Orozco Emiliano Zapata
• 1911-1913 • Francisco I. Madero 1911 – 1913 Pascual Orozco Francisco Madero Francisco “Pancho” Villa Bernardo Reyes Venustiano Carranza Emiliano Zapata
• 1913-1914 • 1913 -1914 Victoriano Huerta Francisco “Pancho”Villa Pascual Orozco Emiliano Zapata Venustiano Carranza
• 1914-1920 • Venustiano Carranza 1914 – 1920 Alvaro Obregon Franciso “Pancho” Villa Emiliano Zapata
“The array of personalities and shifts of power in Mexico is dizzyingly intricate. Yet the individuals and their causes – or lack of them – are well known to every Mexican school child. Madero is the symbol of democracy; Zapata the symbol of peasants’ land rights. Pancho Villa is the fearless leader of the cavalry charge.” - Adolfo Gilly El Paso Texas
The Newsmen
General Pancho Villa 1878 - 1923
The Battles near the Border
Covered by Otis Aultman
• 1911 - First Battle of Agua Prieta, Sonora • 1911 – 1913 Battle of Ciudad Juarez • 1916 - Columbus, New Mexico
El Paso Herald, Wednesday, July 30, 1913
In closing, by 1923 Otis Aultman was an established commercial photographer, photographing events at the Juarez race track, construction of the Kress building and numerous others designed by famous architect Henry Trost. Aultman. He also documented archeological sites, and the desert and mountains surrounding El Paso. His photographs appeared in many issues of the El Paso newspapers. In 1943, he died in his studio that was also his home.
Resources
Photographs from the border : the Otis A. Aultman collection Otis A. Aultman 1874-1943. ; Mary A Sarber; Charles H. Binion 1937-; El Paso Public Library Association. ; 1977.
Border Heritage Center, Otis Aultman Photo Collection Online (http://www.elpasotexas.gov/library/ourlibraries/main_library/bord er_heritage/border_heritage_otis_aultman.asp), El Paso Public Library.
El Paso Herald (El Paso, Tex.), Newspaper, 1910 - 1921, digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth138123/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History.