Did You Know?
Colorado Springs Photographer Laura Gilpin Helped Preserve the Cultural Landscape of the American Southwest
Did you know that one of the most influential photographers of the American Southwest began her life right here in Colorado Springs?
Laura Gilpin was born in 1891 in Austin Bluffs, an area that is now part of Colorado Springs. Growing up in the shadow of Pikes Peak, Gilpin developed a deep appreciation for the western landscape that would shape her life’s work. When she received a Kodak Brownie camera at the age of twelve, supposedly from General Palmer, a lifelong passion was born.
Gilpin eventually studied photography in New York at the Clarence H. White School of Photography before returning west to build her career. While she photographed landscapes throughout Colorado and the Southwest, her most significant and lasting work focused on the culture and daily life of the Navajo people.
At a time when many photographers portrayed Native Americans as relics of the past, Gilpin approached her work differently. She spent decades building relationships within Navajo communities, documenting everyday life with dignity and respect. Her photographs captured families, shepherds, weaving traditions, and the sweeping landscapes of the Navajo Nation. These images became an important historical record of a living culture connected deeply to the land.
Her most famous book, The Enduring Navaho, published in 1968, reflected this philosophy. Rather than presenting a romanticized or disappearing culture, Gilpin sought to show how Navajo traditions endured across generations.
This idea of preserving cultural landscapes and memory connects closely to the work happening today at Evergreen Cemetery.
Cemeteries are often thought of simply as places of burial, but historic cemeteries like Evergreen are also cultural landscapes. They hold the stories of communities, families, and traditions that shaped a region. Headstones, monuments, symbols, and inscriptions become visual records much like Gilpin’s photographs.
Just as Laura Gilpin preserved the cultural memory of Navajo communities through her camera lens, efforts at Evergreen Cemetery seek to preserve the memory of Colorado Springs’ early residents. Each gravestone marks a life lived within the larger story of the American West.
Both forms of preservation—photography and cemetery conservation—serve a similar purpose. They ensure that the stories of the past are not lost to time.
Gilpin once said, “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” Her photographs helped viewers recognize the beauty, dignity, and resilience of cultures that might otherwise have been overlooked.
In much the same way, historic cemeteries teach us how to see the layers of history within our own communities.
From the high desert landscapes she photographed to the historic grounds of Evergreen Cemetery here in Colorado Springs, the work of preserving cultural heritage continues. Whether through photographs, stories, or historic preservation, each effort helps ensure that the people who shaped our past are remembered by future generations.