Maxwell Museum Blog
The beginnings of the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology lie in the 1928 founding of the UNM Department of Anthropology. Edgar Lee Hewett, the department’s first chair, was a prominent archaeologist who had previously founded the School of American Research (1907), Museum of New Mexico (1909) and led the San Diego Museum of Man (1916). From the department’s first year, Hewett offered archaeological field schools and brought collections back to the UNM campus.
On January 13, 1930, Hewett wrote to University of New Mexico President James F. Zimmerman:
“Material from the field work has already accumulated beyond our ability to care for it properly....The proper care of it, together with additions thereto that will come from the excavations in the near future, constitutes a serious responsibility as well as a perplexing problem.
Provision for a museum for both preservation and exhibition of material seems to be inevitable. The preparation of material derived from the excavations is ideal work for the students who have participated in field work...
Not only would this take care of the valuable material that we already have which is now altogether without adequate care, but it would afford an attraction on the University campus that would be well worth considering. In my contacts with clubs and civic organizations the question is repeatedly raised: 'Can not Albuquerque have a public museum for the exhibition of material characteristic of its environment?' There can be only one answer to this local demand and sentiment. My belief is that such a museum should be at the University. We have already received some valuable collections but with our present lack of facilities for care or exhibition would not be justified in accepting collections that will be offered in the future."
His letter was persuasive. In 1932, the “Museum of Anthropology,” Albuquerque’s first public museum, opened its doors.
Edgar Lee Hewett