One of the most prolific photographers of the 20th century, Laura Gilpin is best known for her depictions of the landscape of the American Southwest and the Indigenous people who live there. The Laura Gilpin Papers cover the years 1907 to 1979 but are primarily from the 1940s to 1970s. The collection consists of:

• Correspondence: both personal and business to and from contemporaries such as Ansel Adams, Ira W. Martin, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Clarence H. White
• Business materials: including ledgers, invoices, advertising materials, and receipts
• Technical materials: notes on her photographic process and printing techniques, exposure records, paper samples for photographs, books, and brochures
• Exhibition materials from galleries, salons, and museums; transcripts and lists from public lectures she gave
• Research and drafts for Gilpin’s books, including the Hastings House manuscript of Temples in Yucatan and materials for The Enduring Navajo
• Miscellaneous manuscripts: notes for lectures and short-format writings she did for magazines and journals
• Clippings: newspapers and magazine articles about Gilpin’s work
• Publications: including photography and periodicals illustrated with Gilpin’s photographs; of note are the brochures for the Clarence H. White School of Photography and Light and Shade newsletter from 1928 to 1946
• Journals, scrapbooks, and address books that document her acquaintances, subjects, and trips
• Ephemera: personal and professional mementos and keepsakes
• Examples of Gilpin’s photographic equipment such as a wooden box for Lumiere autochromes and an 1896 Kodak camera

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