New Mexico Historical Review Volume 1 Issue 1 Article 1 1-1-1926 Full Issue New Mexico Historical Review Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr Recommended Citation New Mexico Historical Review. "Full Issue." New Mexico Historical Review 1, 1 (2021). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr/vol1/iss1/1 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Mexico Historical Review by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. NEWMEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW rnIEIPrnTI~1T VOLUME 1 1926 n written justification for launching the New Mexico I Historical Review in 1926, original co-editor Lansing B. Bloom cited reasons which are equally applicable for initiating the current reprint program - the importance of the field, the source material available, and the interest on the 'part of research students. Things have changed little: The New Mexico Historical Review (NMHR) continues to thrive because these motives still exist. The importance of now out-of-print volumes has motivated the New Mexico State Legislature to support t.his program of reprinting the unavailable numbers of yesteryear as a contribution. to regional history. .In 1926 a strong interest in the uniqueness of our tri-cultural heritage and the availability of untapped resources combined to bring forth a journal dedicated to providing glimpses into our his­ toric past in the form of articles ,of lasting interest. Scholars and teachers have made' great use of the NMHR as an outlet for publication, as an informed source of instructional materials, and as a research tool. Many historians of national stature have contributed to the Review, while other researchers have been assisted in gaining prominence through publication opportunities made possible by the journal. The entire first volume manifests the enthusiasm of New Mexico for its colorful history at a time when enjoyment of the past was unfettered by needless sophistication. There were many stories to be told and the fledgling quarterly was ready to begin an exciting adventure in making New Mexico known at home and elsewhere. A negative result of the unbounded eager­ ness is apparent in various typographical errors which have been, left uncorrected as a result of the facsimile nature of these re­ printed volumes. Of particular interest was a series of articles detailing New Mexico involvement and contribution to national efforts during World War 1. With these wartime events not yet blurred by ex­ cessive passage of time, it was possible to capture early ap­ preciation of regional participation in what was felt to be the war to end all war. Some early NMHR authors were at the beginning of distinguished careers. Others contributed long years of service to the Review. Some were scholars in mid-passage. Others, for a variety of reasons, would never be heard from again. The largest contribution was the four issue serially produced study of the founder of New Mexico, Juan de Onate, by George P. Hammond, which occupied nearly 30% of the first volume. The author was a recently-hatched Ph.D. (1924) who after two years at University of North Dakota moved to University of Arizona where he was serving as assistant professor. His subsequent career included a period at University of Southern California, 1927-35. From there, Hammond came to UNM as associate pro­ fessor, andwas subsequently professor, head of the department, and dean of the graduate school. In 1946 he left the Land of Enchantment to return to his native state as Professor of History and Director of the Bancroft Library of the University of Cali­ fornia. He retired from those posts in 1965. Hammond is a prolific writer, editor and organizer of publication programs. His early NMHR articles were some of the first fruits of a long and productive career by a distinguished American historian who at age 85 is still a frequent contributor to this field. He is the sole survivor of the authors published in Volume 1 of the New Mexico Historical Review. Hammond's "Don Juan de Onate and the Founding of New Mexico," in Volume 1, was the subject of his doctoral dissertation done at University of California under Herbert E. Bolton. In later years Hammond was a regular contributor to the NMHR on vari­ ous Spanish Borderlands themes. J(ohn) Lloyd Mecham, who had received his Ph.D. under Bolton at Berkeley in 1922, was author of "The Second Spanish Expedition into New Mexico." Itwas the result of research on his M.A. thesis of 1917 at Berkeley entitled "The Rodriguez Expedi­ tion into New Mexico, 1581-1582." Mecham spent a long academic career at University of Texas as Professor of Government. Among his best known sub­ sequent works were Francisco de Ibarra and Nueva Vizcaya <Duke University Press, 1927) and Church and State in Latin America <University of North Carolina Press, 1934). Though Mecham was a constant contributor to historical publications, he never again appeared in the pages of the NMHR. His interest shifted toward Latin American politics. Most famous 1926 contributor was· Anthropologist Frederick Webb Hodge, a frequent early author. He was for 13 years on the staff of the Museum of the Ameri'can Indian and after 1932 Direc­ tor of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles. He is well-known for his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, his History of Hawikuh, New Mexico, and his long service as editor of the American Anthropologist. Volume 1 had an article by Francis T. Cheetham who served the Review as an associate from 1926 until 1945. He was a politi­ cian, lawyer, and officer of the state historical society. In addi­ tion to this early article, he authored "EI Camino Militar," in Vol. 15. His service to the NMHR was cut short by his death in January of 1946. Fayette S. Curtis, Jr. contributed to both Vol. 1and 2, though the latter was a posthumous article. AYale graduate and a semi- invalid, Curtis had come west almost a decade earlier to serve as Head Master ofLos Alamos Ranch School. An obituary for.Curtis appeared in Vol. 2 of the NMHR on pp. 98-100. Benjamin M. Read was a distinguished senior lawyer with an untrained but vigorous interest in history. Born into a bicultural, bilingual family of Las Cruces, Read became a legislator, governmental official, translator, and zealous contributor to regional study. His death in 1927, almost simultaneously with Curtis, truncated. a promising association:with the NMHR. Frank RH. Roberts was an educator of note in regional cir­ cles. His interesthad always been centered on public education and on service organizations Jb which he gave a great deal of time. He never again appeared in the Reviewafter Vol. 1. In con­ trast, Professor Percy M.Baldwin of Las Cruces was afrequent contributor of both articles and service on the editorial board for 37 years. _ Lansing R· Bloom, former Presbyterian· missionary and minister turned historian in 1917, was early associated with the School of American Research and with the Museum of New Mex­ ico in Santa Fe. He served as co-editorJrorn the begin~ing of pub­ lication until 1945. In 1929 he joined the staff of UNM's history department as associate professor. He made frequent trips to Mexico and several times invaded the Spanish archives in quest of New Mexico materials. A frequent author in supsequent numbers, his first publication came in Vol. 1. Shortly after his death in 1946, the NMHR produced a bibliography of Bloom's published writings in Vol. 21, pp. 114-17. Bloom's co-editor, Paul A.F. Walter, served for37 years as one of the two editors of the NMHR. He reviewed dozens of books .and authored articles in some of the early issues. His early association with publishing, his political orientation, and his presidency of the Historical Society of New Mexico were assets which he placed at the Review's disposal. His increasingly greater involvement with the First National Bank of Santa Fe reduced his day to day participation in Review affairs" and for the final 20 years he was co-editor more in name than in function. It is with pleasure thatwe make available once more the writings of such a varied group of scholars who more than a half century ago enriched local history. Donald C. Cutter Chairman, Editorial Board, NMHR STATE OF NEW MEXICO OF"F"ICE OF" THE GovERNOR SANTA FE ~?!503 BRUCE. KINO GOVERN'OR "'I June 2, 1981 Dear Reader: The recitation ofthe'history of oile's State can be a stirring thing. For students of American History it is an essential ingredient in the accumulation of knowledge; but it is also an exciting thing to learn about those who walked on this land before us~ For the casual reader it may also be exciting ,to learn of things that happened in past years in the very places we inhabit today. Time passes; and change is inevitable. Engraved at the entrance to the National Archives in Washington is the statement "What Is Past Is Prologue." It is for this reason, aside from the mere inquisitive nature of man, that the study of history is so important. We grow from our roots; it is progress that makes us what we are' today. But we must never forget OUI origins, or the struggles our forebears. experienced to make this land a place of which we can be proud today. New Mexico is tichJn history. This land provides evidence of some of the earliest inhabitants of this world.