Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2010
New Mexicans pride themselves on their ability to bridge multicultural divides. Part of what we are urged to understand as “enchanting” about the Land of Enchantment is its diverse cultural background. Native American, Hispano, and Anglo have existed side by side, at times with remarkable harmony and good will, for nearly two centuries. The Land of Enchantment is not altogether a fantasy. Many New Mexicans have shown an uncanny ability to bridge ethnic divides and find common ground in the interstices between cultures. The soil of New Mexico seems to be fertile ground indeed for producing cultural brokers. Margaret Connell Szasz admits that living in New Mexico makes her particularly attuned to the role of the cultural broker.
56 , Szasz, introduction to Between Indian and White Worlds, xiii.Google Scholar
57 Montgomery, Charles, The Spanish Redemption: Heritage, Power, and Loss on New Mexico's Upper Rio Grande (Berkeley, CA, 2002), 105–12.Google Scholar
58 Powers, Willow Roberts, Navajo Trading: The End of an Era (Albuquerque, NM, 2001), 3–5.Google Scholar
59 McNitt, Frank, Richard Wetherill: Anasazi, Pioneer Explorer of Southwestern Ruins, rev, . ed. (Albuquerque, NM, 1966), 8–12.Google Scholar
60 , McNitt, Richard Wetherill, 110, 168–69; andGoogle ScholarWetherill, Marietta, Reflections on Life with the Navajos in Chaco Canyon, ed. Gabriel, Kathryn (Boulder, CO, 1992), 87Google Scholar.
61 Schmedding, Joseph, Cowboy and Indian Trader (Albuquerque, NM, 1974), 99–100.Google Scholar
62 The reasons for his abandonment of archaeological work, although beyond the scope of this essay, contributed greatly to the controversy that has always marked the life of Richard Wetherill. The archaeological work at Chaco Canyon proceeded well enough until 1900, when Edgar L. Hewett, one of the founders of the Santa Fe Archaeological Society, initiated a campaign to stop Wetherill's digging. Focusing their attack on the commercial activities of selling relics rather than the quality of scientific work being done, Hewett and his allies persuaded the General Land Office to stop the archaeological work. Hewett and the Santa Fe group had most certainly been trying to eliminate eastern competitors in the archaeological field, since Wetherill was funded by New York patrons who were placing all artifacts from Chaco in the American Museum of Natural History. In the 1920s, Hewett hiself led projects to excavate Chaco Canyon. But in eliminating a rival, Hewett reinforced Wetherill's reputation as a vandal and a relic hunter who sold precious artifacts for profit. This negative reputation haunted the Wetherills for generations but has been largely dispelled in recent decades by archaeologists who have reassessed their contributions. SeeHarrell, David, “‘We contacted Smithsonian’: The Wetherills at Mesa Verde,” New Mexico Historical Review 63 (July 1987): 229–48; andGoogle ScholarSnead, James E., Ruins and Rivals: The Making of Southwest Archaeology (Tucson, AR, 2001), 3–21, 51–57Google Scholar.
63 , McNitt, Richard Wetherill, 173–77.Google Scholar
64 , Wetherill, Reflections, 113–17; andGoogle Scholar, McNitt, Richard Wetherill, 181–85Google Scholar.
65 Iverson, Peter, The Navajo Nation (Albuquerque, NM, 1981), 11–12.Google Scholar
66 Stineman, Esther Lanigan, Mary Austin: Song of a Maverick (New Haven, 1989), 172–74;CrossRefGoogle ScholarAustin, Mary, “Rural Education in New Mexico,” University of New Mexico Bulletin, Training School Series, 2(1) (Dec. 1931): 28–29;Google ScholarLoyd S. Tireman to Leo M. Favrot, 3 Dec. 3, 1931, in
67 Jacobs, Margaret, Engendered Encounters: Feminism and Pueblo Cultures, 1879–1934 (Lincoln, NE, 1999), 153–57;Google ScholarWeigle, Marta, “The First Twenty-Five Years of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society” in Hispanic Arts and Ethnohistory in the Southwest, ed. Weigle, Marta (Santa Fe, NM, 1982), 182–83;Google ScholarAustin, Mary, Adelina Otero-Warren, and Aurora Lucero, “New Mexico Folk Song,” El Palacio 7 (1919): 152–59; andGoogle Scholar, Stineman, Mary Austin, 172Google Scholar.
68 Austin, Mary, The American Rhythm (New York, 1923).Google Scholar
69 Austin, Mary, Earth Horizon: Autobiography (1932; Albuquerque, NM, 1991), 345.Google Scholar
70 Austin, Mary, “Mexicans and New Mexico,” Survey Graphic 66 (May 1931): 144, 187.Google Scholar
71 , Montgomery, The Spanish Redemption, 4, 217–29.Google Scholar
72 James F. Zimmerman to Leo M. Favrot, Feb. 11, 1930, in 1033 School of Education, 1929–1939, folder 6357, box 598, ser. 1.4, GEB;Fosdick, Raymond B., Adventure in Giving: The Story of the General Education Board (New York, 1962), 83–85Google Scholar;Anderson, James D., “Northern Foundations and the Shaping of Southern Black Education, 1902–1935,” History of Education Quarterly 18 (Winter 1978): 374, 378–81, 383–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
73 Anderson, James D., The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935 (Chapel Hill, 1988), 262, 267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
74 George I. Sánchez to Leo M. Favrot, Mar. 5, 1935; Sánchez to Favrot, July 9, 1937; and Leo M. Favrot, memo from interview with George I. Sánchez, July 27, 1937, 303 Julius Fosenwald fund, 1937–38, folder 2043, box 212, ser. 1.2, GEB.Welsh, Michael, “A Prophet Without Honor: George I. Sánchez and Bilingualism in New Mexico,” New Mexico Historical Review 69 (Jan. 1994): 29–32.Google Scholar
75 George I. Sánchez “The Age-Grade Status of the Rural Child in New Mexico: Public Elementary Schools, 1931–32,” Educational Research Bulletin, New Mexico State Department of Education (1932), Department of Education Papers, New Mexico State Records Center and Archives, Santa Fe (NMSRCA).
76 Albuquerque Tribune, Dec. 12, 1938; Santa Fe New Mexican, Dec. 22, 1938, Jan. 6, 1939; La Revista de Taos, Feb. 16, 1939; New Mexico Board of Education Minutes, Jan. 20, 1939, Department of Education Records, NMSRCA.
77 Sánchez, George I., Forgotten People: A Study of New Mexicans (Albuquerque, NM, 1940), 81.Google Scholar