During his military service in Europe, Palmquist married Sally Forward, then returned to California in 1959, when his enlistment ended.
In 1983 Palmquist published his own book Carleton E. Watkins: Photographer of the American West accompanied by an exhibition that traveled to museums in Fort Worth, St. Louis and Boston.
The show, with its inclusion of images of gardens, cityscapes and Spanish mission churches, prompted a reassessment of Watkins as more than a landscape photographer, and demonstrated Palmquist's capabilities as a researcher.
initially, his lack of confidence in his own abilities as a writer caused him to enlist other authors for his first four books; Humboldt State University graduate student David Smith, and journalist Alann Steen, editor of Pacifica: Magazine of the Northcoast [5] Eventually his own texts were to include more than 40 books and 320 articles, many on women photographers, and he compiled the bibliography for Naomi Rosenblum's important 1994 A History of Women Photographers.
[6][7] He was the founding editor of The Daguerreian Annual;[8] past president of the National Stereoscopic Association; and founder and curator of the Women in Photography International Archive.
[2] Palmquist died on January 13, 2003, at Alameda County Medical Center Highland Hospital after three days in a coma after being struck by a hit-and-run driver while walking his dog in Emeryville, California.
[10] The Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund for Historical Photographic Research was founded by his partner Pam Mendelsohn.
Palmquist's archive of more than 150,000 photographs and research documents is housed at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut where it forms a cornerstone of its Western Americana Collection.
[11] Palmquist, Peter E & Kailbourn, Thomas R. Pioneer photographers from the Mississippi to the continental divide : a biographical dictionary, 1839-1865.
Palmquist, Peter E & Haynes, David & Rudisill, Richard Photographers : a sourcebook for historical research (Rev.
Carl Mautz Pub, Nevada City, CA, 2000 Dassonville, William E & Herzig, Susan, (editor.)
Palmquist, Peter E.. Catharine Weed Barnes Ward: Pioneer Advocate for Women in Photography.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "[Laura Adams Armer] Waterless Mountain," in, Perpetual Mirage: Photographic Narratives of the Desert West.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "Resources for Second World War Women Photographers," History of Photography, vol.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "She Saved Soldier's Lives, Lost Her Own [Elizabeth Fleischmann]," Women's Heritage Museum [Newsletter], (May 29, 1993), p. 1.
Palmquist, Peter E. "Books by and About Women Photographers," AB Bookman's Weekly (March 1, 1993), pp. 845–856.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "Abbie E. Cardozo: Making it in a Man's World," The Humboldt Historian, vol.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "Women Photographers in Nineteenth-Century California (USA) - An Overview," Photoresearcher (European Society for the History of Photography), June 1991, pp. 12–20.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "Elizabeth Fleischmann-Aschheim, Pioneer X-Ray Photographer," Western States Jewish History (October 1990), pp. 35–45.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "Miss L. M. Ayers: A Photographer Out of the Ordinary", The Humboldt Historian (May–June 1990), pp. 16–17.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "Women in Photography: Selected Readings," Journal of the West (January 1989), pp. 127–132.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "The Indomitable Abbie Cardozo," Photography In the West #1 (Manhattan, Kansas: Sunflower University Press, 1987), pp. 106–109.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "'Uncle Frank' Learned Photography at an Early Age [Includes Mary Spesert]," The Humboldt Historian (November/December 1985), pp. 17–19.
Palmquist, Peter E.. "Portraits and Insights from Two Skilled Image Makers - Abbie Cardozo and Elmo Seely," The Humboldt Historian, (May/June 1984), pp. 6–8+.
"Emma B. Freeman: With Nature's Children," Sutter County Community Memorial Museum, Yuba City, California, January - March 1988.
"Louise E. Halsey: An American Pictorialist," Reese Bullen Gallery, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, January 10–30, 1985.
"Emma B. Freeman Photographs," Women's History Week, Clarke Memorial Museum, Eureka, California, March 6–12, 1983.
"Historical West Coast Photography: Fine California Views by A. W. Ericson (1848-1927); With Nature's Children by Emma B. Freeman (1880-1928); and Photographer of a Frontier by Peter Britt (1819-1905)," International Center of Photography, New York City, New York, March 18-April 17, 1977.
"With Nature's Children: Emma B. Freeman (1880-1928) - Camera and Brush," The Nautilus Gallery, Arcata, California, March 5–24, 1977.