RARE BOOK: ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS Ancient Southwestern America at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century [SOLD]

ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS Ancient Southwestern America at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

Paul J. Tarver and Cristin J. Nunez

New Orleans Museum of Art, 2010

First Edition, limited edition of 1000 copies, hardback with slipcover, 127 pages, beautifully illustrated. New condition

Selections from the George Hubbard Pepper Native American Archive at Tulane University’s Middle American Research Institute and Latin American Library

Synopsis

This book was an accompanying catalogue of an exhibition of 160 photographic images and Native American works of art collected by George Pepper in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Pepper was one of many scientists and photographers who traveled to the Southwest at the end of the nineteenth century as early practitioners in the fields of ethnology and archaeology.  Not yet states but American territories, Arizona and New Mexico were rich in prehistoric sites and home to the vibrant Navajo and Pueblo cultures.

Pepper had a unique position during this exciting period.  A series of fortuitous events resulted in his appointment at the age of 23 as an assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).  Frederic Ward Putnam, one of America’s leading ethnologists, hired Pepper specifically so he could send him to New Mexico.  There he would lead the team in charge of excavating Pueblo Bonito, one of North America’s most spectacular archaeological sites.  In addition to his role in the first official excavation of Pueblo Bonito, Pepper collected thousands of ceramics, baskets and textiles for the AMNH and a select group of private collectors.  His collecting trips allowed him to travel to all the Pueblo towns and venture into the vast territory of the Southwest which was home to the Navajo peoples.  He became an ardent supporter of the culture and arts of the Pueblo and Navajo peoples.

In 1910, Pepper was hired by George Gustav Heye to be an assistant curator for his collection, the largest private assemblage of Native American art in the world.  In 1916, the collection became the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.  Pepper retained his position there until his untimely death in 1924.

During his period in the field, Pepper collected thousands of photographic images and made many photographs himself.  He compiled his own personal study collection of textiles, ceramics, and baskets.  He kept journals full of details pertaining to Pueblo and Navajo customs, language, and artistic techniques.  Shortly after Pepper’s death, the archive was purchased by Tulane’s Middle American Research Institute and additional items were donated by Pepper’s widow.

This catalog of his collections and the exhibition reveal the man, his times, and the Native American cultures he most admired.

This rare book was issued only in an edition of 1000 copies in 2010.