School of American Research

School of American Research
Jsordaz · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	School of American Research
Type	Nonprofit
Founded	1918
Founder	John Gaw Meem; Victor Mindlin
Location	Santa Fe, New Mexico
Focus	Cultural anthropology; Native American art

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School of American Research

The School of American Research is a New Mexico-based nonprofit institution associated with Santa Fe cultural life, linked historically to figures such as George Gustav Heye, Frances Densmore, Alfred Kroeber, Edward Sapir, Frida Kahlo, and Ansel Adams. It operates at the intersection of Native American, Mesoamerican, Pueblo Revolt, Spanish Colonial histories and material culture, engaging with communities connected to Taos Pueblo, Hopi Reservation, Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblo and collectors including Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Isabella Stewart Gardner. The organization’s programming has drawn collaborators from institutions like the Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of New Mexico, and researchers associated with Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, and Columbia University.

History

Founded in 1918 amid a flourishing interest in southwestern cultures, the institution’s early leadership included patrons and scholars connected to William Randolph Hearst, Alice Marriott, Lorado Taft, and architectural figures such as John Gaw Meem. Its archives document expeditions and collections tied to collectors like George Gustav Heye and ethnographers such as Frances Densmore, Alfred Kroeber, and Edward Sapir, and record interactions with Indigenous leaders from Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O'odham communities. Through the mid-20th century the organization partnered with museums including the Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Natural History, and curators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and hosted symposia featuring scholars like Claude Lévi-Strauss, Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Ansel Adams, and D.H. Lawrence. In later decades it reoriented toward collaborative scholarship and contemporary art, working with figures connected to Maria Martinez, Vera Cruz, Diego Rivera, Louise Bourgeois, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith.

The institution’s stated mission emphasizes relationships among creators, scholars, and Indigenous communities, aligning programming with leaders from Pueblo Revolt descendant communities, contemporary artists linked to Native American art movements, and academic partners including University of New Mexico, Arizona State University, Yale University, Princeton University, and Duke University. Its fellowship and residency programs have hosted practitioners and scholars such as N. Scott Momaday, Linda Hogan, Simon Ortiz, Leslie Marmon Silko, Joy Harjo, and curators from The Getty, Museum of Modern Art, and Tate Modern. Public programs range from seminars invoking archives like Bancroft Library to conferences with participants from National Endowment for the Arts, National Museum of the American Indian, and legal scholars connected to Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act dialogues.

The organization produces scholarly and public-facing publications that bring together contributors from disciplines represented by authors affiliated with Harvard University Press, University of California Press, Princeton University Press, and editors from journals such as American Anthropologist, Journal of Anthropological Research, and Museum Anthropology Review. Research topics have included Pueblo pottery traditions linked to Maria Martinez, Mesoamerican iconography associated with Olmec and Maya, and Southwestern archaeology connected to excavations similar to Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. Contributors have included historians and anthropologists like Pauline Turner Strong, Vine Deloria Jr., Joseph F. Traub, Kathleen Basso, and art historians formerly at Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and Courtauld Institute.

Its collections and exhibition collaborations encompass material culture and contemporary art, partnering with museums and collectors such as Museum of New Mexico, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, and private collections associated with Isabella Stewart Gardner and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Exhibitions have highlighted work by potters linked to Maria Martinez, textiles from Navajo Nation weavers such as those from Shiprock, New Mexico, and contemporary artists including Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, T.C. Cannon, Fritz Scholder, Benny Andrews, and Kay WalkingStick. Curatorial collaborations have drawn curators from The Getty, MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, Peabody Museum, and Field Museum to mount shows addressing repatriation, provenance, and cross-cultural exchange.

Educational outreach includes fellowships, residencies, public lectures, and workshops that connect community leaders, artists, and scholars from institutions like University of Arizona, New Mexico Highlands University, Cornell University, University of Texas at Austin, and Stanford University. Programming has featured Indigenous activists and cultural leaders such as Wilma Mankiller, Leonard Peltier, Vine Deloria Jr., and writers including Leslie Marmon Silko, Sherman Alexie, Louise Erdrich, and Joy Harjo; artists and educators from Santa Fe Indian School and tribal colleges including Diné College. Outreach also engages policy and cultural institutions like National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and regional partners such as the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

Category:Organizations based in Santa Fe, New Mexico