Adolph Bandelier

One of the great pioneers of archaeology in the United States, and the Americas in general, was Adolph Bandelier, whose importance in the Southwest is memorialized in the name of Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. How did Bandelier, born in Switzerland in 1840, end up in the Southwest?

Only a young child when his family immigrated and settled near St. Louis, Bandelier was educated with the assumption that he would follow a career in business. But in 1873, he had a fortunate meeting with anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan, under whose influence he began research in Mexico, on ancient warfare, social organization, and other subjects.

In 1879, as Bandelier was publishing the last of his three reports on his Mexican studies, a group of Bostonians led by Charles Eliot Norton was establishing the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). The AIA founding fathers were greatly interested in classical civilizations, but also wanted to conduct investigations in the Southwest. They turned to Major John Wesley Powell, director of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology, for advice—and Bandelier’s future was decided, as recorded in letters from the AIA archives.

Powell wrote in his initial response that, “There are 29 pueblos in the United States belonging to four different stocks of people. I propose that a gentleman be sent to study one of the groups of pueblos…” (June 26, 1880). Three days later, Norton replied, “I should place implicit reliance on your judgement in the selection of a competent agent, but it seems to me that it would be well that I should see the gentleman whom you may choose for the work, previous to his starting on the expedition, in order to confirm your choice, and to give to him some specific instructions in behalf of the Archaeological Institute.”

Less than two weeks later, Powell had a name: “I have finally concluded to recommend Mr. Ad. F. Bandelier as the proper person to make the investigation for the Archaeological Institute. This gentleman is very familiar with the literature of the subject, and has already done some good work. I…am satisfied that he will make a success of the work; and I am more thoroughly assured that Mr. Bandelier is the right man from the fact that the Hon. Lewis H. Morgan has earnestly recommended me to take him into this…” (Powell to Norton, July 7).

After a few days’ delay, probably caused by a need to consult his fellow AIA officers, Norton wrote to Bandelier, “It gives me much pleasure, in the name of the Executive Committee of the Archaeological Institute of America to appointment you as their agent to visit New Mexico and the adjoining region, for the purpose of investigating the life of the existing sedentary Indians and the remains of the works of their predecessors in that part of the United States.” That same day, July 19, Norton sent off a courteous note to Powell, “I beg to thank you for your favor of 7th inst. informing me that you had concluded to recommend Mr. A. F. Bandelier as the person to undertake the archaeological research in New Mexico proposed by the Archaeological Institute. Since receiving your letter I have had the opportunity for ample personal communication with Mr. Bandelier, who by his acquisitions and intelligence justifies your selection.”

Bandelier was in the field with AIA funding for several years, and his research led to a number of works, including Historical Introduction to Studies among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico and Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos (1881), Report of an Archaeological Tour in Mexico in 1884 (1884), and Contributions to the History of the South-western Portion of the United States carried on mainly in the years from 1880 to 1885 (1890). From a home-office perspective, the publication process—described in a January 1884 letter from AIA Vice President Martin Brimmer to Norton—wasn’t easy, “I understand your budget to provide $1500 for Mexico, besides the $1500 especially subscribed. This ought fully to cover Bandelier’s work, including the publication of this season’s results. Mr. B’s lack of literary capacity, and some want of sense of the relative importance of things on his part, make his reports a heavy load to carry.”

You can judge Bandelier’s literary capacity—or lack thereof—yourself, by downloading his 1881 reports and his historical novel about the Southwest, The Delight Makers (1890), at www.gutenberg.org.

This entry was posted by Mark Rose on Thursday, July 23, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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