Bulletin of the History of Archaeology Vol. 21, No. 2, 2011, 10-17 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bha.2123 Spying by American Archaeologists in World War I (with a minor linkage to the development of the Society for American Archaeology) David L. Browman* I am interested in detailing two aspects linked to the is- John Alden Mason (1885–1967) received his Ph.D. from sue of several archaeologists working for the U.S. Office of the University of California – Berkeley in 1911. Mason was Naval Intelligence (ONI) during the First World War. These also a University of Pennsylvania ‘Fellow’, during its sec- spying activities were part of the controversy surrounding ond year, at the International School in México City, where the censure of Franz Boas by the American Anthropologi- he became friends with Mexican archaeologist Manuel cal Association (AAA) for his published letter of October Gamio. Mason met Mechling first at Pennsylvania, then 1919, in which Boas claimed that four unnamed research- collaborated with him at the International School, and the ers were involved in espionage activities using archaeolog- following year both continued research in eastern Canada. ical research as a front. As they were unnamed, who were Mason accepted the job offer of Curator at the Field Mu- these four archaeologists? seum in 1917, and in April, Mechling telegraphed Mason A recent work by Charles Harris and Louis Sadler list- in Chicago, requesting that he come to Washington D.C. ing ONI agents during the war includes nine individuals and join him at the ONI. (2003: 371–379) who conducted archaeological research Mechling and Mason then went to Mexico and request- as a ‘cover’ while simultaneously carrying out intelligence ed permits to work in the Yucatan, ostensibly to collect gathering for the ONI. All potential candidates for these for the Field Museum. Utilizing the cover of doing archae- four unnamed agents comprise: Theodoor de Booy (Agent ology, they began espionage work for ONI. But Mechling 141), Thomas Gann (Agent 242), John Held (Agent 154), was not cut out for the spying business. He immediately Samuel Lothrop (Agent 173), J. Alden Mason (Agent 157), ran into trouble, was arrested, and thrown in jail. Mason William Mechling (Agent 52), Sylvanus Morley (Agent contacted Gamio and they managed to get Mechling re- 53), Wilson Popenoe (Agent 219), and H. Joseph Spinden leased from jail. But because Mason blew his cover by get- (Agent 56). As well, in addition to the spying issue, I also ting help from Gamio, the ONI recalled and disenrolled want to follow one nearly fortuitous thread to do with this Mechling and Mason in September, so the pair had less event, that contributed to the formation of the Society for than six months of disastrous careers as spies (Harris and American Archaeology. Sadler, 2003: 50–53). Manuel Gamio was Boas’s first Ph.D. student in archae- World War I and American Archaeological Espio- ology. In addition to being a colleague from the Interna- nage tional School, he was then working for the National Mu- While Boas did not publish the names of the four archae- seum of Mexico. Based on materials published by Harris ologists, we can make a reasonable guess about who they and Sadler (2003), Rutsch (1997) and Stocking (1968, were. The following is a very brief summary of the field 1974), I have reconstructed the following correspond- activities, during the First World War, of all of the nine ar- ence sequence between Gamio, Boas, and others, in the chaeologists listed as ONI agents, with the four most likely summer of 1917. In July, Gamio wrote to Boas about the to be those accused of spying by Boas discussed first. arrest, noting that Mason and Mechling had applied for William Hubbs Mechling (1888–1953) received his A.M. permission to conduct archaeological work in the Yuca- from the University of Pennsylvania in 1910. He went as tan. Gamio thought that they were working for both the the Hispanic Society of America ‘Fellow’, as one of the Field Museum in Chicago and the Peabody Museum at half-dozen student researchers to participate in the Inter- Harvard. Boas wrote to Berthold Laufer at the Field Mu- national School of American Archaeology and Ethnology seum to ask what Mason was doing. Laufer replied that in México City, in its second year of operation in 1911–12, Mason had been granted leave from the Field Museum when Boas served as its director. Mechling received his to work on a political mission for the government. Laufer Ph.D. from Harvard in 1917, and was then hired by the indicated that the archaeological project was an intelli- Field Museum in Chicago. Because of his ‘reserve officer’ gence cover, but asked Boas not to tell Gamio. Boas wrote status, he was called up to satisfy various wartime obli- Alfred Tozzer to find out how the Peabody Museum was gations before he assumed his duties at the museum. involved, but Tozzer replied that because of confidential- Mechling was commissioned as an ONI agent and quickly ity, he could not comment. Later in August, Laufer told recruited his friend J. Alden Mason. Boas that Mechling had been hired to begin work in July, but had contacted Laufer saying that he had to delay the start of his position because of previous military commit- * Washington University, St. Louis. ments. Laufer also indicated his intention to pass these Email: [email protected] details on to Gamio. Whether Laufer did so is unclear, Browman: Spying by American Archaeologists in World War I 11 but Boas wrote Gamio, saying that Mason and Mechling personnel with the ONI. CIW paid Morley the difference were not working for the Field Museum, but were acting between his ONI and Carnegie salaries (Brunhouse, 1971: as government agents. Gamio replied, indicating surprise, 115), and the AMNH and Field Museum did the same for and noted that he had offered Mechling a job at the Na- their personnel. Neither Morley’s nor Spinden’s associa- tional Museum in Mexico City when he had come in April, tions with the military were secret, both having been pub- but Mechling had declined, and Mechling and Mason had lically, and often, seen wearing Naval uniforms, and their then gone to the Yucatan. participation was well-known to the stateside anthropo- In addition to corresponding with Gamio, Boas wrote logical community. For example, during the summer and to Ezekiel A. Chavez, a Mexican colleague and an official fall of 1918, when Morley was back in the U.S. recovering working high up in the Mexican government, and who from malaria, he visited anthropologists in Boston, New had been involved with him in the formation of the In- York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Kansas City, and ternational School, to denounce the espionage activities Santa Fe, and a ‘noteworthy aspect of this journey was of Mason and Mechling. Chavez wrote back in September, that Morley traveled in uniform’ (Harris and Sadler, 2003: asking Boas to return to Mexico, to help stop this kind of 266). However when he was in Central America, ‘Morley endeavor by U.S. researchers. Boas wrote to Aurelio M. Es- conspicuously maintained his archaeological cover’ (Har- pinoza, Snr., who was a Mexican folklore specialist then at ris and Sadler, 2003: 240). The ONI ultimately deployed Stanford University, who had advised Boas and Mason on about three dozen agents and sub-agents in Central folklore research in Oaxaca for the International School America, and a close reading of Harris and Sadler suggests and on their later project in Puerto Rico. And Boas also that Morley may have recruited over two dozen of them, complained to other colleagues around the country, for accomplishing his ONI orders to organize an espionage example, writing to Robert H. Lowie at Berkeley in De- network. The field ‘cover’, along with the fact that Morley cember 1917, saying that he had determined that in addi- recruited so many of his fellow archaeologists, no doubt tion to Mechling and Mason, Sylvanus Morley and Joseph contributed to Harris and Sadler’s hyperbole (2003: xiii, Spinden were spying for the American war effort in Latin 315) that ‘Morley was arguably the finest American spy of America (Harris and Sadler, 2003: 285–287). World War I’, and that he ran ‘arguably the best American Sylvanus Griswold Morley (1883–1948) completed his intelligence network in World War I’. A.M. at Harvard in 1908, and continued graduate work There has been considerable confusion about the ex- through 1909, but never finished his Ph.D. Morley was act number, and the identity, of the archaeological ONI hired by the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) in agents in past discussions. Because Boas reported that he 1914 to head their new program on Mayan archaeology. knew of four such individuals, most discipline historians He was a member of the Cosmos Club in Washington D.C. have only sought to identify four archaeologists as agents. and when the war began, he was approached by fellow But because there were more than four archaeologists so club associate Charles Alexander Sheldon, Chief of Naval involved, as can be seen from the list made by Harris and Operations, to provide a list of anthropologists who pos- Sadler, it is not surprising that the particular archaeolo- sibly could be recruited as agents (Harris and Sadler, 2003: gist identified as being one of the four has varied depend- 46, 48). Morley was commissioned as an officer in the Na- ing on the author. Morley and Spinden are almost always val Reserves, and was in charge of searching for German named.