When his term of office at the New Mexico Normal School was not renewed, Hewett enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Geneva and received his doctorate from there in 1908. The following ten years were the most influential period of his life. Hewett was one of the major architects of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which for the first time provided federal legislative means for the protection of prehistoric remains. His lobbying efforts on behalf of the bill successfully brought together disparate elements of the scholarly community, and a fellowship from the American Institute of Archaeology (AIA) was awarded to Hewett in 1906, which allowed him to conduct his political negotiations, popular lectures, and peripatetic field research. For the next several years he appears to have been the principal arbiter of archaeological research in the southwestern region of the United States.

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Tiered cliff dwellings at Bandelier National Monument

(© Michael T. Sedam/CORBIS)

In 1907, Hewett overcame considerable resistance on the part of several prominent archaeologists and was named as the first director of the AIA’s School of American Archaeology (later renamed the School of American Research).