Ward Alan Minge Papers
Collection
Identifier: MSS-815-BC
Scope and Content
The Ward Alan Minge Papers contain legal documents, such as depositions, reports, exhibits, and opinions, as well as other primary and secondary sources concerning New Mexico’s Pueblo Indians. Primary sources include translations and transcriptions of Spanish and Mexican era sources, as well as documents from the territorial and modern era. Unpublished reports by Donald C. Cutter, Myra Ellen Jenkins, Florence Hawley Ellis, Lyman Tyler, and Sophie Aberle are in the collection as are correspondences, reports, maps, and articles related to the Pueblos, and documents related to various historical associations and commissions concerning Minge and New Mexico’s history, including materials related to Dr. Minge’s career as Chief Historian at Kirtland Air Force Base.
Acoma Pueblo contains legal, primary and secondary sources, as well as reports and photographs, and photocopies of documents from the National Archives and Records Administration. Included are translations and transcriptions of colonial era documents, records of Acoma’s land disputes, correspondences, and copies of legal records.
Jemez, Santa Ana, and Zia Pueblos contains documents common to these three Pueblos, as well as sources particular to the individual Pueblos. Agricultural and anthropological reports, translations and transcriptions of Spanish primary sources, articles, and correspondences are found in this series.
Sandia Pueblo contains translations and transcriptions of Sandia's 1748 Spanish grant as well as other colonial documents. There are also copies of various NARA documents that relate to Sandia Pueblo. Legal documents pertaining to boundary disputes are included as well.
San Felipe and Santo Domingo Pueblos includes notes on the 1770 grazing grant to the Pueblos, correspondences, maps, and reports. Additionally, there are legal and secondary sources on Santo Domingo’s boundary dispute.
Zuñi Pueblo contains legal documents, reports, articles, and correspondences. The legal documents include depositions, exhibits, and court opinions and responses related to Zuni’s Indian Claims Commission case.
Pueblos Generally contains primary and secondary sources including legal, reports, articles, brochures, maps, and correspondences relating to the New Mexico Pueblos in general, but also particular to Laguna Pueblo; San Juan Pueblo; Nambe, Pojoaque, Tesuque, and San Ildefonso Pueblos; and Taos, Cochiti, Isleta, Picuris, and Santa Clara Pueblos. There are also correspondences relating to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Documents pertaining to the Aamodt water rights case are included as are documents from the archives of the Audiencia de Guadalajara.
>Historical Associations contains articles, biographical information, photos, and correspondences related to Ward Alan Minge, Kirtland Air Force Base, historical preservation and economic planning organizations, the New Mexico Commission on Public Records, the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives and other general historical sources.
Acoma Pueblo contains legal, primary and secondary sources, as well as reports and photographs, and photocopies of documents from the National Archives and Records Administration. Included are translations and transcriptions of colonial era documents, records of Acoma’s land disputes, correspondences, and copies of legal records.
Jemez, Santa Ana, and Zia Pueblos contains documents common to these three Pueblos, as well as sources particular to the individual Pueblos. Agricultural and anthropological reports, translations and transcriptions of Spanish primary sources, articles, and correspondences are found in this series.
Sandia Pueblo contains translations and transcriptions of Sandia's 1748 Spanish grant as well as other colonial documents. There are also copies of various NARA documents that relate to Sandia Pueblo. Legal documents pertaining to boundary disputes are included as well.
San Felipe and Santo Domingo Pueblos includes notes on the 1770 grazing grant to the Pueblos, correspondences, maps, and reports. Additionally, there are legal and secondary sources on Santo Domingo’s boundary dispute.
Zuñi Pueblo contains legal documents, reports, articles, and correspondences. The legal documents include depositions, exhibits, and court opinions and responses related to Zuni’s Indian Claims Commission case.
Pueblos Generally contains primary and secondary sources including legal, reports, articles, brochures, maps, and correspondences relating to the New Mexico Pueblos in general, but also particular to Laguna Pueblo; San Juan Pueblo; Nambe, Pojoaque, Tesuque, and San Ildefonso Pueblos; and Taos, Cochiti, Isleta, Picuris, and Santa Clara Pueblos. There are also correspondences relating to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Documents pertaining to the Aamodt water rights case are included as are documents from the archives of the Audiencia de Guadalajara.
>Historical Associations contains articles, biographical information, photos, and correspondences related to Ward Alan Minge, Kirtland Air Force Base, historical preservation and economic planning organizations, the New Mexico Commission on Public Records, the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives and other general historical sources.
Dates
- 1689-1991
Creator
- Minge, Ward Alan (Person)
Language of Materials
English Spanish
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Copy Restrictions
Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publicatios or distribution.
Biography / History
Ward Alan Minge was born in Marshall County, Kansas on March 20, 1924. He received his BA from the University of Denver in 1950 and an MA from the University of the Americas in 1952. In 1955, he became the Chief Historian for Kirtland Air Force Base, retaining the position for several decades while working on numerous other historical endeavors. Many of these involved New Mexico’s nineteen native-American Pueblos. In the last half of the twentieth century, many of the Pueblos asserted claims involving water rights, boundary disputes, and aboriginal land before federal and state tribunals. Dr. Minge was involved in many of these claims, providing written work and testimony for numerous Pueblos.
Dr. Minge’s associations with the Pueblos began in the 1950s. In 1956, he was hired as a research historian for the Jemez, Santa Ana and Zia Pueblos, who were jointly initiating a land claim before the Indian Claims Commission. The following year, he began his long association with Acoma Pueblo. In 1965, he received his Ph.D in history from the University of New Mexico. By the end of the 1960s, he had served as an expert witness in the State v. Aamodt case. This involved the water rights of Nambé, Tesuque, San Ildefonso, and Pojoaque Pueblos. He published Acoma: Pueblo in the Sky in 1976 and revised it in 1991. The Pueblo commissioned this work, which remains the standard text on Acoma. In the 1980s, he worked with Sandia and Santo Domingo Pueblos as they attempted to resolve boundary disputes. In Zuñi’s Indian Claims Commission case, Minge served as an expert witness on the history of the Pueblo. He also worked for San Juan and Laguna as a research historian.
Dr. Minge’s expertise includes the Spanish and Mexican periods of New Mexico, particularly as it relates to the history of the southern New Mexico Pueblos. He translated and transcribed various documents from this era. He travelled to the Archive of the Audiencia of Guadalajara to search for documents related to New Mexico’s Pueblos. He also compiled an extensive array of sources from the National Archives and Records Administration that pertained to the Pueblos. His reports and expert testimony are based, in part, on these documents.
In addition to his work with the Pueblos, he published numerous articles as Historian of the Air Force Special Weapons Center and Weapons Laboratory. He co-authored New Mexico’s Public Record’s Act, which established the State Records Center and Archives. He served as Chairman of the New Mexico Commission of Public Records and was a member of the Architectural Review Board for the City of Albuquerque. Additionally, he consulted on assorted conservation/preservation projects and historical endeavors. Dr. Minge relocated to Kansas after retiring.
Dr. Minge’s associations with the Pueblos began in the 1950s. In 1956, he was hired as a research historian for the Jemez, Santa Ana and Zia Pueblos, who were jointly initiating a land claim before the Indian Claims Commission. The following year, he began his long association with Acoma Pueblo. In 1965, he received his Ph.D in history from the University of New Mexico. By the end of the 1960s, he had served as an expert witness in the State v. Aamodt case. This involved the water rights of Nambé, Tesuque, San Ildefonso, and Pojoaque Pueblos. He published Acoma: Pueblo in the Sky in 1976 and revised it in 1991. The Pueblo commissioned this work, which remains the standard text on Acoma. In the 1980s, he worked with Sandia and Santo Domingo Pueblos as they attempted to resolve boundary disputes. In Zuñi’s Indian Claims Commission case, Minge served as an expert witness on the history of the Pueblo. He also worked for San Juan and Laguna as a research historian.
Dr. Minge’s expertise includes the Spanish and Mexican periods of New Mexico, particularly as it relates to the history of the southern New Mexico Pueblos. He translated and transcribed various documents from this era. He travelled to the Archive of the Audiencia of Guadalajara to search for documents related to New Mexico’s Pueblos. He also compiled an extensive array of sources from the National Archives and Records Administration that pertained to the Pueblos. His reports and expert testimony are based, in part, on these documents.
In addition to his work with the Pueblos, he published numerous articles as Historian of the Air Force Special Weapons Center and Weapons Laboratory. He co-authored New Mexico’s Public Record’s Act, which established the State Records Center and Archives. He served as Chairman of the New Mexico Commission of Public Records and was a member of the Architectural Review Board for the City of Albuquerque. Additionally, he consulted on assorted conservation/preservation projects and historical endeavors. Dr. Minge relocated to Kansas after retiring.
Extent
14 Boxes (13.34 cu. ft.)
Abstract
The Ward Alan Minge Papers contain legal and historical documents (depositions, reports, exhibits, legal opinions, translations and transcriptions of Spanish and Mexican era sources, documents from the territorial and modern era) concerning New Mexico’s Pueblo Indians. Correspondences, reports, maps, and articles pertaining to the Pueblos and to various New Mexico historical associations and commissions are also included.
Arrangement
Arranged in seven series:
- Acoma Pueblo (Subseries: Court Cases; Primary Sources; Reports and Secondary Sources)
- Jemez, Santa Ana, and Zia Pueblos (Subseries: Jemez, Santa Ana, and Zia Related Sources; Santa Ana Pueblo; Zia Pueblo)
- Sandia Pueblo: (Subseries: Primary Sources, Translations, and Transcriptions; Boundary Disputes; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Documents)
- San Felipe and Santo Domingo Pueblos (Subseries: San Felipe and Santo Domingo, Correspondences; Santo Domingo Boundary Disputes)
- Zuñi Pueblo
- Pueblos Generally (Subseries: Laguna Pueblo; San Juan Pueblo; Nambe, Pojoaque, Tesuque, and San Ildefonso Pueblos; Taos, Cochiti, Isleta, Picuris, and Santa Clara Pueblos; Primary Sources; Reports; Indian Pueblo Cultural Center)
- Historical Associations (Subseries: Ward Alan Minge, Historian; Kirtland Air Force Base; Historical Preservation and Economic Planning; New Mexico Commission on Public Records, State Records Center and Archives; Historical References)
Separated Material
Rusinov, Irving, A Camera Report on El Cerrito: A Typical Spanish-American community in New Mexico, United State Department of Agriculture, Misc. Pub., No. 479, 1942 has been catalogued for CSWR general collection.
A postcard of nineteenth-century Santa Fe has been transferred to the CSWR postcard collection.
A postcard of nineteenth-century Santa Fe has been transferred to the CSWR postcard collection.
- Aberle, Sophie D., 1899-1996
- Acoma (N.M.) -- History
- Acoma Indians -- History
- Acoma Indians -- Land tenure
- Boundary disputes
- Cutter, Donald C.
- Ellis, Florence Hawley
- Indians of North America -- Government relations
- Jemez Indians -- History
- Jemez Indians -- Land tenure
- Jemez Pueblo (N.M.) -- History
- Jenkins, Myra Ellen
- Kirtland Air Force Base (N.M.) -- History
- Legal documents
- Letters
- Map
- Photographs
- Pueblo Indians -- History
- Pueblo Indians -- New Mexico -- Land tenure
- Pueblo Indians -- Water rights
- Pueblos -- New Mexico -- Boundaries
- Pueblos -- New Mexico -- History
- San Felipe Pueblo (N.M.) -- History
- Sandia Indians -- History
- Sandia Pueblo (N.M.) -- History
- Santa Ana Pueblo (N.M.) -- History
- Santo Domingo Pueblo (N.M.) -- History
- Tyler, Lyman S.
- United States. Indian Claims Commission
- Zia Indians -- History
- Zia Pueblo (N.M.) -- History
- Zuni (N.M.) -- History
- Zuni Indians -- History
- Zuni Indians -- Land tenure
Creator
- Minge, Ward Alan (Person)
- Title
- Finding Aid of the Ward Alan Minge Papers, 1689-1991
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- James E. Dory-Garduño
- Date
- © 2008
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
- Sponsor
- Funding provided by: University of New Mexico Center for Regional Studies. Dr. Tobias Durán, Director
Revision Statements
- Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu