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16: Back to Work
- University of New Mexico Press
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The 1902 International Congress of Americanists was a turning point for Adela in several ways. Her close copying of the art and architectural elements had given her significant expertise on the art, particularly since she had made careful observations and comparisons as she worked. Her work created great interest on several levels. She began corresponding with various colleagues about professional matters. The professional impact on Adela was immediate . As soon as she returned from the tour she sent William Henry Holmes the plan she had made of the ancient remains at Teuchitlán, apologizing she could not get an accurate compass reading at the summit. In the same letter she told him that there was talk of the New York Museum publishing a few of her plans of Mexican sites. Clearly at the congress there had been conversations about her work outside of Chichén and others had shown interest. By late November she was back in Mexico, and by December 23 she was at Chichén. Tozzer arrived soon after. “I find affairs here little changed from last year. . . . Miss Breton and Pablo are in control here” (Tozzer, Letters from the Field, Letter 4, Dec. 27, 1902, HarTL). Adela and Tozzer quickly resumed their friendship. The Thompsons had not yet arrived and Adela and Pablo were living in the main room of the hacienda until her hut was ready for occupancy. Tozzer, who was waiting for a hut near Adela’s to be cleaned for him, hung his hammock with theirs. They clearly enjoyed the quiet and comfortable atmosphere without the Thompsons and welcomed the New Year together—but only after a cheerful celebration of Adela’s birthday. Yesterday was Miss Breton’s birthday. She informed me so that I might wish her many happy returns of the day but she failed to tell me which one it was [her fifty-third]. I carried her up a dozen of the round ball-like tortillas which 107 ______________________________________ Chapter Sixteen Back to Work I tell her she has hid her light under a bushel long enough. She does wonderfully accurate work and I think the scientific world are [sic] at last beginning to appreciate her. She is too modest. —Alfred Tozzer, diary, January , 108 Chapter Sixteen ______________________________________ Clotilda made for me and a little book which I happened to have and which I tied with some of the ribbon around mother’s Christmas gift. She seemed very appreciative and we sat and chatted in the evening much longer than usual, for generally eight o’clock finds me fast asleep in my hammock. But I must tell you about our New Year’s dinner at the casa principal. Pablo cooked it and Miss Breton, Pablo and I did ample justice to it. He managed to buy a chicken at a neighboring pueblo so we had soup followed by chicken, tortillas furnished us with bread and served also as potatoes. For dessert we had dried apples and rice which was excellent and some truly English “oat cake.” It was all a pleasing change to me and we really had a jolly time. Pablo is full of fun and we found ourselves talking in Spanish most of the time so he could understand. (Letter 5, begun Dec. 30, 1902, HarTL)1 Pablo was an important part of Adela’s sociability . When Tozzer was not at Chichén she was isolated, and Pablo was her main source of conversation and companionship. Work on Adela’s hut was not going well. She had paid men to “mud it up”—install a mud wall—but some cattle came along and knocked a large part of it down. Tozzer reported, “Poor Pablo is at work building a fence” (ibid.). Tozzer had readily come round to Adela’s way of thinking. “It is altogether better to live in one of the native huts than in the casa principal as it is more quiet and much more private” (Letter 4, Dec. 27, 1902, HarTL). Nothing had changed with respect to the insects either. Tozzer and Adela agreed that the garrapatas were much worse, with everyone suffering from extensive bites. He relates Adela’s uncharacteristically personal comment referring to the numerous bites she had: “The starry heavens are nothing as compared to the appearance of her body” (Letter 5, Dec. 30, 1902, HarTL). But amidst reunion and celebrations, archaeology was foremost on their minds. The atlantes had been discovered after Tozzer had left the year before: “Looked over...