John Gaw Meem at Acoma: The Restoration of San Esteban del Rey Mission

3: Claiming Authorship: South Wall and South Tower, 1926

67 Planning and organization from the letters of John Gaw Meem to Anne evans: June 2, 1926 Dear Miss Anne: . . . i have no doubt that we can induce lewis riley to finish up Acoma. He undoubtedly is the best man we can get for our field work. However we have to know some time in advance so that he can make his plans accordingly. As you probably know, he is in the fruit business and there are certain periods when he is pretty much tied up. if we can let him know ahead he can plan his time. . . . with best regards to all of your family and yourself, i am, sincerely yours, John Gaw Meem June 10, 1926 Dear Miss Anne: . . . lewis riley is willing to go to Acoma during the month of August, which he says is the time preferred by the indians as it comes between planting time and the harvest. This means that one of the greatest difficulties in the way of starting work has been overcome by obtaining an efficient superintendent. i personally will go to Acoma 3 Claiming Authorship south wAll And south toweR, 1926 68 chaPter three this week-end and have a conference with the indians, and make sure of their cooperation this next August. i saw father schuster in santa fe yesterday and he promised to be there when i was and organize the meeting. He is most enthusiastic about the prospects. . . . in my opinion Acoma should be completed this year if possible . This means the plastering of all of the outside, including certain portions of the convento, the remodeling of the towers, the re-roofing of the convento, the remodeling of the balcony bars and several other important portions of the convento. in all probability this work will take considerably more than one month, which is the time lewis riley feels he can give us, however it may be possible to obtain someone as his assistant who could carry the work to completion, after he left. Please do not hesitate to ask for further information from us of any kind and know that we are ready to confer in every detail. sincerely yours, John Gaw Meem June 14, 1926 Dear Miss Anne: i have just returned from Acoma, or rather Acomita, where the indians go in the summer time to attend to their fields. There i met with father schuster and practically all of the head men of the tribe. father schuster first spoke through an interpreter and he translated into the Acoma language. He outlined what had been done two years ago, what a great historic monument Acoma represented and how much it meant to the tribe. He exhorted them to repeat their performance of two years ago and help restore the Mission. He then introduced me, and i outlined this years’ program, emphasizing the fact that we wanted their complete cooperation and would not come until such a time as would be most convenient for the Acoma people. After considerable discussion in their strange language the interpreter said that the Acoma indians would do everything in their power to further our objects and that we could absolutely count on their cooperation, starting August first. He also took the opportunity to extend their thanks to the committee for all that they had done claIMInG authorshIP 69 to help them. it was quite a thrilling experience to find these indians so eager to work with us this time. you remember how skeptical they were when we started two years ago. lewis riley has promised to go down August first, so it looks as if everything was set for a successful season. sincerely yours, John Gaw Meem when lewis riley left Acoma in november of 1924, he had packed and stored materials and tools fully expecting to return in 1925 for a second season. This was not realized, and there was a year’s hiatus in the committee’s work on the mission. but after riley’s successful season at Acoma, the project was still very much alive, and in 1926 eagerness to continue the project was expressed by the members of the committee and by the Acoma administration as well. John Meem set an ambitious work agenda to finish the work in the 1926 season— plastering the exterior walls of the church and convento, a new convento roof, and repair work on the church towers and parts of the...