Rethinking Hewett: Thoughts on Reconsidering Edgar Hewett’s Legacy

Rethinking Hewitt is series of talks co-presented by the New Mexico History Museum and the School for Advanced Research.

In the early 20th century, educator and archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett played a central role in shaping the cultural institutions of New Mexico, founding the School for American Archaeology (now the School for Advanced Research) in 1907 and the Museum of New Mexico in 1909. Hewett’s vision and ambition led to the creation of museums, preservation efforts, and public celebrations that continue to influence the region’s cultural identity today. Yet his legacy is complicated. Through collaborations and controversies alike, Hewett’s work both advanced preservation and disrupted local traditions, reshaping the ways Native and Hispano communities—and their histories—were represented and remembered.

Bruce Bernstein is considered one of the leading authorities on Southwestern Native American art. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1993 and has served as curator and museum director in Santa Fe and Washington, D.C. He is currently Executive Director of the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts in Santa Fe and author of Santa Fe Indian Market: A History of Native Arts and the Marketplace (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2012).

Photo credit: Hewett, Edgar L. “Edgar L. Hewett Points in the Distance While Giving an Archaeological Tour of the Southwest”. Photographs, photographic prints. Edgar L. Hewett Collection - Photographs of the Southwest. PAAC.056.0047a. New Mexico History Museum. Accessed December 10, 2025. https://archives.newmexicoculture.org/edgar-l-hewett-points-distance-while-giving-archaeological-tour-southwest.