James E. Snead - Ruins and Rivals: The Making of Southwest Archaeology

The depth of archaeological history in the American Southwest often confounds the modern researcher. We visit ruins in remote canyons and find inscriptions or silted-up trenches left by our predecessors. Our museums are filled with artifacts collected when our grandparents were young. In archives we search for field notes, journals, or sketch maps, struggling to decipher the ornate handwriting of nineteenth-century correspondence and the cultural context of Gilded Age America that produced the words we read. We are not, generally, trained as historians, but a feeling for the history of what we do is shared by many of us.

The impetus for this book was a change in direction in my graduate studies in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA. Iwas raised in the Southwest but on leaving for college had set my sights on the archaeology of another part of the world. Thus when the vagaries of opportunity brought me back to Santa Fe, I found myself ignorant of many of the basic texts and references that my colleagues had long before taken to heart. As a result I spent a considerable amount of time looking at original sources in the archives in order to get a feel for Southwest archaeology and its practitioners.

The picture of Southwest archaeology I assembled through this crash course, however, was significantly different from what I had expected. The stories told by telegrams, correspondence, and memoranda had less to do with things coming out of the ground than with political maneuvers and agendas. There was considerable dissonance between the standard disciplinary histories and the tangled reality of past days. As I read further, I crossed paths with several historians of anthropology who clarified many errors of fact and interpretation. But it also became clear from the richness of the archives that material for new histories of Southwest archaeology was readily at hand.

This history is a postdoctoral project based on those archival explorations. My purpose in examining in detail the activities of particular communities who took an interest in the southwestern past at the turn of the century is to identify patterns of interaction that set the stage for modern Southwest archaeology. Where possible, I prefer to let these individuals speak for themselves, and although there are theoretical points to be made, the logic of the argument is derived from the sources. As an archaeologist who also writes history, my concern for chronology has kept the narrative within relatively traditional bounds.

The majority of the research was conducted in 199697 while I served as Kalbfleisch Research Fellow in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History. David Hurst Thomas made my stay in New York possible and has promoted the project at every turn. Many other members of the anthropology staff, including Sumru Aricanli, Andrew Balkansky, Paul Beelitz, Robert Carneiro, Stan Freed, Martha Graham, Alvaro Higueras, Lori Pendleton, Annibal Rodriguez, Chuck Spencer, Lisa Stock, Nyurka Tyler, and Ann Wright-Parsons, contributed to the project. Belinda Kaye, in particular, welcomed me to the departmental archives. In the Museum library Mary DeJong arranged for loans and reference material, while the Special Collections staff of Tom Baione, Daryl Gammons, and Paula Willey provided access to the central archives.

Visits to archives throughout the country took place over several years and were supported in large part by a research grant from the American Philosophical Society. Archivists whose interest had a major impact on the course of my research include Sarah Demb, at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard; Alison Jeffrey, at the National Museum of the AmericanIndian; Priscilla Murray, of the Archaeological Institute of America; and Kim Walters, at the Southwest Museum. Jack Focht, of the Trailside Museums at Bear Mountain Park, welcomed me to examine his unexpected cache of Talbot Hyde papers. In Santa Fe, Orlando Romero, Toms Jaehn, and Hazel Romero at the Fray Anglico Chvez History Library provided access to the E. L. Hewett papers, while Willow Powers and Diane Bird King tracked down loose ends at the Museum of Indian Arts and Cultures. Other sites visited include the School of American Research; the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives; the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley; the Arizona Historical Society; Special Collections of the University of Arizona Library; Harvard University Archives; the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan; the Century Association, in New York; the Hispanic Society of America; the always welcoming National Anthropological Archives; and the National Archives.

The opportunity to spend a fellowship year at the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University allowed me to bring the writing to a conclusion. David Weber, that Centers director, offered sound advice at a critical stage, and many of the good things about the manuscript resulted from his suggestions. My colleagues in the Center, Steven Reich and Jane Elder, were unfailing sources of support, while David Farmer and his staff at the DeGolyer Library extended every courtesy. Being able to consult on a regular basis with David Meltzer in the Department of Anthropology was also quite valuable, as was the encouragement of Michael Adler. The panel assembled to discuss my work included Curtis Hinsley, Leah Dilworth, and Richard Francaviglia, all of whom made insightful comments. The students in Anthropology 5355 saw many of the ideas herein in development, and their patience with the process is appreciated. I also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Clements Center in making this publication possible.

Christine Szuter, director of the University of Arizona Press, has discussed the project with me since its early stages, and her positive attitude was a major incentive to finish the job. Among the dozens of colleagues whose comments and critique have helped to mold the work into its present shape I would like to list Don Fowler, Louis Hieb, Jim Hill, Bill Longacre, Joan Mathien, Bob Powers, Robert Preucel, J. Jefferson Reid, Douglas Schwartz, Jeff Thomas, Raymond Thompson, Bruce Trigger, Courtney White, Todd Wertheim, Steve Williams, and Monica Smith, whose insights always seem to come at the right moment. Finally, without the support of Jim and Georgia Snead and Bob and Jodie Phillips, none of my various projects would have a hope of completion.