History:

A.V. Kidder, one of the foremost archeologists in the southwestern US, convened the first Pecos Conference in 1927 at his field camp near Pecos, NM. The purpose of the conference according to Kidder was to “…bring about contact between workers in the Southwest field to discuss fundamental problems of Southwest prehistory; and to formulate problems of Southwest prehistory; to pool knowledge of facts and techniques, and to lay a foundation for a unified system of nomenclature.” Kidder convened a second and third Pecos Conference in 1929 and 1931 in Pecos, NM and Santa Fe, NM. In place of the Pecos Conference, a meeting known as the Chaco Anthropological Conference which was similar to the Pecos Conference (but included Mayan prehistory in addition to southwest prehistory), took place in Chaco Canyon in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, and 1941. Due to World War II and the associated lack of funds, there were no major archeological conferences in the southwest from 1942-1945. Finally in 1946, the Pecos Conference was held in Santa Fe after having disappeared for 15 years, marking the beginning of an annual tradition. The following year, the University of New Mexico brought the Pecos Conference to Chaco Canyon for the first time. Since then, the Pecos Conference has had no formal leadership or organization but continues to take place every year in a location in the southwestern US or northern Mexico. Held on August 14th through the 17th, the 1997 Pecos Conference marked a return to Chaco Canyon after 50 years. The event was a collaborative effort shared by the NPS, CCNHP, the Intermountain Field Area, and the Maxwell Museum Association. The planning team included Tom Windes, Chairman of the planning committee and CCNHP archeologist, Philip LoPiccolo and Wendy Bustard, Curators of Chaco Museum Collection, Alan Shalette, Maxwell Museum volunteer, Joyce Raab, Chaco Collection Archivist, and Dabney Ford, archaeologist for CCNHP. Other contributors were David Stuart of UNM and Rory Gauthier of CCNHP. Joyce Raab assembled the contents of the collection. The files contain the planning notes and ephemera of Joyce Raab, Phil LoPiccolo, Tom Windes, and others who planned the conference. A large portion of the collection are photographs of speakers, poster sessions, events, and views of Chaco Canyon taken during the Pecos Conference, most of which were taken by Joyce Raab and her husband, Leonard A. Raab. There are also recordings and transcriptions of several papers presented at the Pecos Conference as well as the original mounted photos and captions representing the exhibit displayed at the CCNHP visitor center.