The hemenway southwestern archaeological expedition, 1886-1889: A model of inquiry for the history of archaeology

The Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition (1886-1889), led by anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing, was the first major archaeological expedition to the American Southwest. Cushing became ill and never finished a final report, and for more than a century his reputation has suffered accordingly. Over the past ten years the authors of the present chapter - an American cultural historian and a south western archaeologist - have unearthed the archival records of Cushing's expedition, including his original but fragmentary report, as well as diaries and field notes of the participants. The Hemenway Project is gradually publishing this multivoiced documentary history, in the hope that it will provide a model for the history of archaeology that gives immediacy to the actors and relevant, contemporary meaning to their intentions and actions.