Resentment over this appointment affected Hewett’s relationship with his peers for decades. The school was installed in the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Hewett maintained a base for the rest of his life. The school’s essential function was the training of students in archaeological field methods. The related Frijoles Canyon field school, which functioned between 1908 and 1913, was one of the first of its kind in the United States, and it served as an educational and intellectual center for archaeology in the region. Several future leaders of the discipline, such as alfred vincent kidder, sylvanus morley, Neil Judd, and Jesse Nusbaum, participated in its activities. Hewett subsequently conducted field schools through the University of New Mexico in the Jemez region and in Chaco Canyon in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Throughout his career, Hewett demonstrated a talent for amassing institutional appointments. These included the directorship of the Museum of New Mexico from 1909 until his death; director of exhibits for the Pan-American Exhibition in San Diego, California (1911); and faculty positions at the State Teacher’s College in San Diego, California (1922), University of New Mexico (1927), and the University of Southern California (1932). He was also closely involved with popular archaeological journals of the day, such as Art and Archaeology, and traveled a strenuous lecture circuit.

With its emphasis on regional, rather than national, institutions and on the importance of building a popular constituency for the conduct of archaeology, Hewett’s philosophy ran counter to broader trends within the discipline, which was evolving from a broadly defined community with avocational roots into a smaller, professional cadre based in major universities and museums. Ultimately, Hewett’s establishment of the School of American Research, the Museum of New Mexico, and several departments of anthropology created the institutions from which much of the archaeology in the Southwest has subsequently been conducted. It is this work that is his principal legacy.

James Snead

References

Bloom, Lansing B., ed. 1939. So Live the Works of Men. Festschrift volume; includes a complete bibliography. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Chauvenet, Beatrice. 1983. Hewett and Friends: A Biography of Santa Fe’s Vibrant Era. Albuquerque: Museum of New Mexico Press.

Hewett, E. L. 1946. Two Score Years. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

———. 1993. Ancient Communities of the Southwestern Desert. Albuquerque: Archaeological Society of New Mexico.

Hinsley, Curtis M., Jr. 1985. “Edgar Lee Hewett and the School of American Archaeology in Santa Fe, 1906–1912.” In American Archaeology Past And Future, 217–236. Ed. David J. Meltzer, Don L. Fowler, and Jeremy A. Sabloff. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Lee, Ronald F. 1970. The Antiquities Act of 1906. Washington, DC: National Park Service, Office of History and Historic Architecture, Eastern Service Center.

Mathien, Joan. 1991a. “Glimpses into the History of the 1908 Fieldwork at Yapashi, Bandelier National Monument.” In Puebloan Past and Present, Papers in Honor of Stewart Peckham, 121–132. Ed. Meliha S. Duran and David T. Kirkpatrick. Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico no. 17.

———. 1991b. “Three Months on the Jemez Plateau: An Account of Edgar Lee Hewett’s 1905 Field Season.” In Clues to the Past: Papers in Honor of William M. Sundt, 185–202. Ed. Meliha S. Duran and David T. Kirkpatrick. Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico no. 16.

Rothman, Hal. 1988. Bandelier National Monument: An Administrative History. Southwest Cultural Resources Center Professional Papers no. 14. Santa Fe, NM: National Park Service.

———. 1989. Preserving Different Pasts: The American National Monuments. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Hieroglyphics

See Champollion, Jean-François; Maya Epigraphy