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In this chapter, we comment on the unsung hero of the Mogollon controversy and a remarkable archaeologist in his own right—Erik K. Reed. Throughout the 1940s, Reed published papers on the Mogollon culture and the Mogollon controversy,and by the end of the decade had expanded the original concept into a new cultural entity that would resonate with Mogollon archaeologists long after it was first proposed. Reed was a critical player in the Mogollon controversy. Several threads running through this controversy come together in Reed’s personal history and his part in the Mogollon drama. We can see Harvard’s strong influence in refusing to recognize the Mogollon, the unspoken conflict pitting the academic prestige of eastern universities against their upstart western counterparts, and the critical importance of intellect in archaeological discovery, definition , and debate. We also glimpse the power of landscape in shaping personality. One side of this drama was played out in Santa Fe, New Mexico,where Reed settled and wrote his series of well-reasoned,thoughtful articles on the Mogollon. Erik Kellerman Reed was born on August 16, 1914, in Quincy, Massachusetts , and grew up in Washington, D.C. His birth date is critical, because the biographical sketch penned by Charlie Steen (1981)—a 10 The View from Santa Fe The most general current concept of the probable antiquity and importance of the Mogollon complex is accepted herein: and the term Mogollon will be used in its broader sense, not merely as referring only to sites excavated by Haury and Martin in southwestern New Mexico. Current usage of Mogollon to denote a major cultural “root” approximates Mera’s “southern brownware complex,” and applies to material all the way from the Pecos to the Verde. —Erik K. Reed (1942b:3) longtime friend and colleague of Reed—failed to emphasize the incredible speed at which Reed raced through high school and university. According to Steen (1981:1–3): “He graduated from Washington Central High School and then entered George Washington University for his freshman year.Following that he spent three years at a ranch school at Deep Springs, California. . . . After the California years, he returned to G.W.U. and received a B.A. degree in the spring of 1932, with a major in anthropology.” In case the reader’s math fails, in the spring of 1932, we note that Reed was only seventeen years old. Subtract three years in California and at least two years of college, and one arrives at an entering freshman age of around twelve years old. Deep Springs—an educational institution that survives today—also deserves a bit of commentary. Industrialist and pioneer electrical engineer L.L.Nunn founded the all-male,alternative school in 1917 on three principles: academics, labor, and self-governance. The school is a working ranch located in the Deep Springs Valley between the White and Inyo mountain ranges; the nearest sizable town is an hour away by car over a mountain pass. Deep Springs’s physical isolation was designed to play a central role in the educational experience. Physical toil,book learning,and isolation would shape outstanding citizens,Nunn believed. High class standing was a prerequisite for admission to this extraordinary school, which provided full scholarships for twelve to twenty students. Reed’s attendance at Deep Springs is further testament to his personality . Deep Springs was a radical experiment, undertaken at a time when the United States was embroiled in war, intellectuals railed against American materialism,and Teddy Roosevelt’s conservationist influence was still freshly felt in the West (Christian Science Monitor, February 19, 2002). Deep Springs also hints at the power of landscape in shaping Reed’s personality .“The desert has a deep personality,”wrote founder Nunn in 1923; “it has a voice. Great leaders in all ages have sought the desert and heard its voice. You can hear it if you listen, but you cannot hear it while in the midst of uproar and strife for material things” (Deep Springs College, http://www.deepsprings.edu/home [accessed May 23, 2009]). We keep these facts in mind as we return to Steen’s account: To continue with Erik’s academic career—he received an MA from Harvard in 1933 and passed the preliminary examinations for a PhD in 1934.For the summer of 1933 he was granted a Laboratory of Anthropology Fellowship and spent the season working with Frank H. H. 96 Chapter 10 Roberts Jr. (of the Bureau of American Ethnology) at...

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