Peter Eric Palmquist, 1936-2003

I suspect many tears were shed on keyboards everywhere as people read their email about Peter Eric Palmquist's death on January 13, 2003. Peter died of severe head injuries after being struck in a crosswalk by a speeding, hit-and-run driver on January 11 in Emeryville, CA, while walking his dog Max, who escaped unharmed. Compounding this tragedy, Peter and his partner of 26 years, Pam Mendelsohn, planned to marry this April.

A professional photographer for more than 50 years, Peter became interested in photographic history after an antique storeowner gave him old photographs taken by local photographers unknown to him. This fateful "fistful" of old photographs became Peter's passionate obsession. At his death, he had amassed more than 150,000 images, including many rare images from early western American photography and some 50,000 photographs documenting more than 100 years of history in Humboldt County, CA. Peter recently transferred his extensive collection of images and research materials to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.