Edgar L. Hewett Photographs and Ephemera Collection
Collection
Identifier: PAAC-0056
Scope and Contents
Collection of photographs, photographic negatives, photo albums, postcards, and ephemera collected by Edgar Lee Hewett. Content includes travels, archaeological expeditions, mementoes, and images of friends and family.
While the collection is closely associated with Hewett, materials given to or collected by Hewett are intefiled with material he created. Additionally, other collections material from the School for Advanced Research, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the Museum of New Mexico may have inadvertently become intermingled with this collection.
While the collection is closely associated with Hewett, materials given to or collected by Hewett are intefiled with material he created. Additionally, other collections material from the School for Advanced Research, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the Museum of New Mexico may have inadvertently become intermingled with this collection.
Dates
- 1860 - 1946
Creator
Copy Restrictions
Permission to publish must be obtained from Photo Archives. Online Request Permission form available at: http://www.palaceofthegovernors.org/photo_request.html. User responsible for all copyright compliance.
Biographical / Historical
Born on November 23, 1865, in Warren County, Illinois, archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett began his career as a schoolteacher in Missouri. While working as a professor at Tarkio College, he met his first wife, fellow teacher Cora E. Whitford (1868-1905), whom he married on September 16, 1891. Hewett earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Pedagogy at the State Normal School in Greeley, Colorado (now the University of Northern Colorado) in 1893 and 1897 respectively, then served as president of New Mexico Normal University in Las Vegas, New Mexico (now New Mexico Highlands University) from 1898-1903. Hewett developed an interest in the archaeology of the southwestern United States and the work of Adolph F. Bandelier, and he began his own amateur archaeological work in northern New Mexico. He pursued a doctorate from the University of Geneva from 1903-1908, which culminated with the publication of his thesis, "Les communautes anciennes dans le desert americain" (Ancient Society in the American Desert).
During this time, Edgar L. Hewett’s growing expertise and advocacy for the preservation of southwestern archaeological sites placed him on the forefront of national antiquities legislation. He led U.S. Congressman John F. Lacey of the House Committee on Public Lands on a tour of the pueblo ruins and cliff dwellings of the Southwest in 1902 to make the case for their protection, and in 1904 wrote a crucial memorandum on the "Historic and Prehistoric Ruins of the Southwest and their Preservation" for the U.S. Department of the Interior and General Land Office. Hewett joined members of the Smithsonian Institution, Archaeological Institute of America, and American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C. to draft antiquities legislation and lobby Congress. In 1906, Hewett personally drafted the bill which passed through both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906, becoming what is known as the Antiquities Act. Unfortunately, during this period of Edgar’s professional success, Cora Hewett struggled with illness and died in 1905 at the age of 36.
Back in New Mexico, Hewett worked to create a center for archaeological and anthropological research. Prominent archaeologists and anthropologists such as Alice Cunningham Fletcher, William Henry Holmes, and Frederick Webb Hodge supported his vision. In 1907 he became the first Director of the Archaeological Institute of America’s School of American Archaeology (later known as the School of American Research and then the School of Advanced Research), which he pushed to be located in Santa Fe in the historic Palace of the Governors. Shortly thereafter, in 1909, the New Mexico territorial legislature created the Museum of New Mexico, also to be located in the Palace of the Governors, and appointed Hewett as Director. Young archaeologists and anthropologists came from across the United States and other countries to join Hewett on his summer field schools and excavations, including Sylvanus Griswold Morley, Alfred Vincent Kidder, Jesse L. Nusbaum, Neil Merton Judd, John Peabody Harrington, and Barbara Freire-Marreco. In Santa Fe, Hewett worked with businessmen and politicians such as Frank Springer, John R. McFie, Ralph Emerson Twitchell, and Paul A. F. Walter to promote the School of American Archaeology and Museum of New Mexico. He met his second wife, Donizetta Adelade Jones Wood (1869-1960), and they married in 1911. Donizetta shared Edgar’s interest in archaeology and accompanied him on excavations and international trips, as evidenced by her appearance in many of his photographs.
Hewett’s archaeological work took him around the Southwest and throughout the world. In New Mexico, Hewett oversaw archaeological excavations at sites like Chaco Canyon, Puye Cliff Dwellings, Gran Quivira, Pecos, Quarai, Abo, Kuaua, Paa-ko, and various ruins in the Jemez, Pajarito Plateau, and Rito de los Frijoles areas. He also conducted archaeological surveys and research throughout Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, most importantly at Mesa Verde National Park. Beyond the United States, Hewett also worked in Mexico and Central America and conducted excavations at the Mayan site of Quirigua in Guatemala from 1910-1912. He wrote numerous books and articles about his archaeological research, including Ancient Life in the American Southwest (1930), Ancient Life in Mexico and Central America (1936), Chaco Canyon and Its Ancient Monuments (1936), Indians of the Rio Grande Valley (1937), Ancient Andean Life (1939), Mission Monuments of New Mexico (1943), and more.
Hewett was involved with many different institutions and projects throughout his career. In Santa Fe, Hewett founded the New Mexico Museum of Art in 1917 and supported other artistic and cultural endeavors such as the restoration of the Palace of the Governors, the Taos Society of Artists, the Santa Fe Fiesta, and the Southwest Indian Fair/Santa Fe Indian Market. He chaired and taught at the University of New Mexico's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, which he helped found in 1927, and trained generations of students at his summer field schools in the Jemez region and Chaco Canyon. There he mentored a significant number of women archaeologists and anthropologists, such as Florence Hawley Ellis, Anna Osler Shepard, Marjorie Ferguson Lambert, Bertha P. Dutton, and others. Hewett also worked for several years in California as Director of Exhibits for the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego from 1915-1916, founder and Director of the San Diego Museum (now the San Diego Museum of Us) from 1917-1929, and a professor of archaeology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the State Teachers' College in San Diego (now San Diego State University). Hewett served as Director of the Museum of New Mexico and School of American Research up until his death on December 31, 1946, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
During this time, Edgar L. Hewett’s growing expertise and advocacy for the preservation of southwestern archaeological sites placed him on the forefront of national antiquities legislation. He led U.S. Congressman John F. Lacey of the House Committee on Public Lands on a tour of the pueblo ruins and cliff dwellings of the Southwest in 1902 to make the case for their protection, and in 1904 wrote a crucial memorandum on the "Historic and Prehistoric Ruins of the Southwest and their Preservation" for the U.S. Department of the Interior and General Land Office. Hewett joined members of the Smithsonian Institution, Archaeological Institute of America, and American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C. to draft antiquities legislation and lobby Congress. In 1906, Hewett personally drafted the bill which passed through both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906, becoming what is known as the Antiquities Act. Unfortunately, during this period of Edgar’s professional success, Cora Hewett struggled with illness and died in 1905 at the age of 36.
Back in New Mexico, Hewett worked to create a center for archaeological and anthropological research. Prominent archaeologists and anthropologists such as Alice Cunningham Fletcher, William Henry Holmes, and Frederick Webb Hodge supported his vision. In 1907 he became the first Director of the Archaeological Institute of America’s School of American Archaeology (later known as the School of American Research and then the School of Advanced Research), which he pushed to be located in Santa Fe in the historic Palace of the Governors. Shortly thereafter, in 1909, the New Mexico territorial legislature created the Museum of New Mexico, also to be located in the Palace of the Governors, and appointed Hewett as Director. Young archaeologists and anthropologists came from across the United States and other countries to join Hewett on his summer field schools and excavations, including Sylvanus Griswold Morley, Alfred Vincent Kidder, Jesse L. Nusbaum, Neil Merton Judd, John Peabody Harrington, and Barbara Freire-Marreco. In Santa Fe, Hewett worked with businessmen and politicians such as Frank Springer, John R. McFie, Ralph Emerson Twitchell, and Paul A. F. Walter to promote the School of American Archaeology and Museum of New Mexico. He met his second wife, Donizetta Adelade Jones Wood (1869-1960), and they married in 1911. Donizetta shared Edgar’s interest in archaeology and accompanied him on excavations and international trips, as evidenced by her appearance in many of his photographs.
Hewett’s archaeological work took him around the Southwest and throughout the world. In New Mexico, Hewett oversaw archaeological excavations at sites like Chaco Canyon, Puye Cliff Dwellings, Gran Quivira, Pecos, Quarai, Abo, Kuaua, Paa-ko, and various ruins in the Jemez, Pajarito Plateau, and Rito de los Frijoles areas. He also conducted archaeological surveys and research throughout Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, most importantly at Mesa Verde National Park. Beyond the United States, Hewett also worked in Mexico and Central America and conducted excavations at the Mayan site of Quirigua in Guatemala from 1910-1912. He wrote numerous books and articles about his archaeological research, including Ancient Life in the American Southwest (1930), Ancient Life in Mexico and Central America (1936), Chaco Canyon and Its Ancient Monuments (1936), Indians of the Rio Grande Valley (1937), Ancient Andean Life (1939), Mission Monuments of New Mexico (1943), and more.
Hewett was involved with many different institutions and projects throughout his career. In Santa Fe, Hewett founded the New Mexico Museum of Art in 1917 and supported other artistic and cultural endeavors such as the restoration of the Palace of the Governors, the Taos Society of Artists, the Santa Fe Fiesta, and the Southwest Indian Fair/Santa Fe Indian Market. He chaired and taught at the University of New Mexico's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, which he helped found in 1927, and trained generations of students at his summer field schools in the Jemez region and Chaco Canyon. There he mentored a significant number of women archaeologists and anthropologists, such as Florence Hawley Ellis, Anna Osler Shepard, Marjorie Ferguson Lambert, Bertha P. Dutton, and others. Hewett also worked for several years in California as Director of Exhibits for the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego from 1915-1916, founder and Director of the San Diego Museum (now the San Diego Museum of Us) from 1917-1929, and a professor of archaeology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the State Teachers' College in San Diego (now San Diego State University). Hewett served as Director of the Museum of New Mexico and School of American Research up until his death on December 31, 1946, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Extent
8 boxes
13 Volumes (13 photo albums)
9 boxes (Nitrates in freezer boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Collection available online
The majority of the images in the Edgar L. Hewett Collection have been digitized and are available at the New Mexico History Museum Digital Collections.
Separated Materials
Edgar L. Hewett manuscript collection is housed at the Fray Angelico Chavez History Library AC 105.
Creator
- Title
- Edgar L. Hewett Collection, 1899-1946
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- HF
- Date
- 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the NMHM Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Repository