After this very brief history of photography in Campeche, we will now refer to the project of the magazine Blanco y Negro Imágenes.

First of all, we need to acknowledge the active role of the Director of the Campeche Center of the National Anthropology Institute (INAH), Carlos Vidal Angeles, who always has had the interest of forming an ancient photography archive and that currently holds more than 5000 images that can be consulted by the public.

This project had an unlikely beginning in a popular restaurant in downtown Campeche. There was an old picture of the small town of Dzitbalchen, in the municipality of Hopelchen, hanging on the wall. During the conversation about that picture, the owner of the place told us its date, the name of the photographer and even the name of the mules in the photo. That is when Mr. Vidal Angeles recognized the importance of preserving the images kept by the inhabitants of all 11 municipalities of the State of Campeche. Not only the images, but, whenever possible, the stories behind them should be published.

In February of 2004, INAH Campeche finally published the first issue of the Blanco y Negro Imagenes magazine.

The Blanco y Negro project has focused on the salvage of these images through research in archives, spoken accounts, registries digitalization of pictures, copies and reproduction of photographs of all 11 municipalities of the State of Campeche, and their publication in a periodical publication.

Anonymous photographers captured most of the images in the last three decades of the 19th Century, although some have the name of the author or the photo studios that include studios in Merida, Yucatan, Tabasco, Campeche and Mexico City. Although there are images of streets and public places, most photographs depict family members.

We have managed to rescue forsaken photographs in family albums kept in closets and trunks, most of them dating back to the early 20th Century and up to the 1970’s.

The first issue of the magazine was dedicated to the Municipality of Hopelchen and featured a number of late 19th and early 20th century images.

The experience was very encouraging, the local historian did not hesitate o give us his own photos and presented us to people who were willing to cooperate with us.

Among them was Mr. Arturo Solis Lara, who has devoted himself to preserve, classify and register both ancient and contemporary photographs for over 30 years. In his place of business, an auto part shop, he has a camera ready to record any event he considers to have any relevance.

Mr. Solis also keeps a record of deceased persons, foreign visitors, local fiestas and other relevant community events.

After the publication of the first issue, we realized the potential of the project; therefore we sought the support of the Campeche Institute of Culture and the University of Campeche.

For the second issue, dedicated to the municipality of Champoton, we rescued an important number of photographs and historical documents such as an electricity bill of the first year that service arrived to that municipality, and original score and lyrics of the internationally famous Danzón Champoton, hand- written by its author Ramón Bocos who composed it out of nostalgia during a visit to Acapulco in 1945.

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