Contact: Lawrence G. Straus, 277-6688 Media Contact: Michael Padilla, 277-1816

March 3, 2003 UNM Department of Anthropology celebrates Diamond Jubilee The University of New Mexico Department of Anthropology is celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year. In 1928, UNM President James Zimmerman asked Edgar Lee Hewett to form the department culminating a process that had included earlier UNM field schools and Hewett’s long personal involvement in the development of anthropology as a field of study in New Mexico. Hewett, one of the most interesting and flamboyant characters in the history of Southwestern anthropology—as detailed in recent works by Don Fowler, James Snead and Curtis Hinsley—was a self-taught archeologist who was president of the New Mexico Normal School in Las Vegas (later New Mexico Highlands University), then founder of the School of American Research in Santa Fe, and founding director of the Museum of New Mexico. Hewett battled for years to wrest control of New Mexico archeological sites from Eastern institutions. Hewett also founded the anthropology department at what would later become San Diego State University. Anthropology will be celebrating its distinguished history, its productive present and its future prospects in a year-long series of activities, of which the XVI Journal of Anthropological Research Distinguished Lecture is the kick-off event. Don D. Fowler, Mamie Kleberg Professor of Anthropology and Historic Preservation at the University of Nevada, Reno, will deliver the lecture on Thursday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Anthropology Lecture Hall, room 163 near the corner of Redondo Drive and Roma Ave. at the University of New Mexico. Fowler will present, “Fields of Research Peculiarly Adapted to the Environment of the University: J.F. Zimmerman, E.L. Hewett, and the Beginnings of Anthropology at UNM.” Fowler’s lecture, based on his current archival research, will explore the personalities and interactions of former UNM President James Zimmerman and Edgar Lee Hewett, during the era of anthropological and archaeological “wheeling-and-dealing” in the late 1920s. In addition, Fowler will present an informal seminar, “What Goes Around (sometimes) Comes Around: Fads & Fashions in the Archaeology of the Greater Southwest,” on Friday, March 14 at noon in Anthropology room 178. The lecture and seminar will be illustrated, and are free and open to the public. Anthropology Professor and JAR Editor Lawrence Straus said the UNM Department of Anthropology continues to be a world leader in research and teaching, producing generations of leading specialists in all the subfields of the discipline worldwide. Following a decade of publishing a local review, “The New Mexico Anthropologist,” the department, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, began publication of Southwestern Journal of Anthropology (SWJA) in 1945, edited by Leslie Spier. SWJA was renamed in 1973 as the Journal of Anthropological Research, to better reflect the broad —indeed international— scope of its contents, as well as of its authors and subscribers. Straus said the history of the UNM Department of Anthropology is firmly rooted in the rich diversity of living and past cultures of the Southwest, but also has major interests in and impacts on the holistic study of humankind worldwide. Current research by faculty and students includes work in North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. UNM faculty include many major figures within their areas of specialization and in professional organizations, both in the U.S. and internationally. “The 75th anniversary festivities celebrate the long and illustrious history of anthropology at UNM and make New Mexicans and alumni aware of what a great department we have,” said Carole Nagengast, department chair. The UNM Department of Anthropology is one of the oldest in the West— following UC Berkeley by about 25 years, but roughly contemporary with the departments at the Universities of Utah and Arizona. ###

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