The Southwest in the American Imagination: The Writings of Sylvester Baxter, 1881-1891, edited by Curtis M. Hinsley and David R. Wilcox. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1996

Abstract

Those interested only in the history of archeology may be disappointed in this volume, as it is less about the Hemenway Expedition as seen through Baxter's articles on it, than it is about his articles on Cushing at Zuni, as well as in southern Arizona, on Baxter himself (a fascinating person), and on how Baxter and his contemporaries shaped a late 19th century popular image of the Southwest However,this book maybe more important for its portent than its content. It is the initial volume of a proposed multi-volume series, "Frank Hamilton Cushing and the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition 1886-1889." The editors (actually, co-authors rather than only editors) have unearthed, to use an appropriate archaeological term a substantial amount of previously unexamined material relating to the Hemenway Expedition, com­pletely controverting the negative (and, quite wrong) response that Frederick W. Hodge gave to Emil W. Haury's inquiry about records of Cushing's excavations.