Portraits TOC
TAOS PUEBLO:
MAINTAINING TRADITION
John J. Bodine
O
n December 11, 1992, the Governor of Taos Pueblo and a
small delegation of tribal elders traveled the seventy miles
south to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to attend the United
Nations World Heritage Convention and receive the award designating Taos Pueblo as a world heritage site of historic and cultural
significance to be preserved and protected. Thus the Pueblo joined
the Great Wall of China, the pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal,
Vatican City, and others worldwide in receiving this distinctive
honor. Taos Pueblo is the first still inhabited site to be placed on the
United Nations World Heritage list. This could be a real boost in
attracting outside funding to resolve an ongoing problem that has
been financially difficult for the Indians in recent times, namely,
the constant maintenance and repair of the four- and five-storied
pueblo apartment dwellings which are made entirely of timbers
and adobe bricks. The third, fourth, and fifth stories have not been
inhabited for many years. Annually, however, the adobe walls
must be remudded, the dirt roofs cleaned of debris and sprouting
weeds, and any rotting ceiling timbers replaced. These two massive structures have survived the ravages of time and weather
since the Indians first built them at some point in the 1300s. With
the designation as a world heritage site, funds will hopefully be
found so that the buildings can stand for countless future generations of Taos Indians as well as for the rest of the world.
Most observers would probably conclude that the Pueblo
would have been elated by this honor to preserve their old homes
and accepted it without question. But that is not quite the way the
matter was viewed at Taos Pueblo. Since the Pueblo was nominated in 1987, hours of discussion took place in the Pueblo Council,
the governing body of the tribe, as to whether the designation
should be accepted at all. There was fear that publicity of the
award would further increase the already crushing number of
tourists who come annually to see the old village and its inhabitants. Most importantly, the Pueblo feared that it might lose some
of its autonomy over its sovereign affairs. An agreement was finally reached whereby the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and the World
Heritage Commission pledged that no outside action or preservation work could take place without the express permission of the
Pueblo authorities and all work must be done exclusively by Taos
Indian labor. The latter demand was only partially motivated to
provide badly needed jobs for Taos Indians. The last thing the
Council wanted was outsiders climbing the Pueblo walls, and free
to explore those areas of the village that are sacred and off limits to
anyone but a Taos Indian.
3
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PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
The award was therefore accepted warily, even though no
funds per se were involved, and the Pueblo Governor stated quite
clearly that, “The Pueblo sees the award as a tool for future generations to use to safeguard their survival including the preservation
of their culture, resources and traditions. The tribe is not interested
in using this award as a promotion.”1This is an excellent example
of the strategy Taos Pueblo has used to maintain its traditions and
marks one more instance of the way the Pueblo has confronted
change since first contacted by Spanish soldiers from the expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in the year 1540. Taos has
always tried to protect itself by blocking any interference in its
affairs. That goal has not always been achieved. Effective Spanish
settlement of Taos valley, in what is now north central New
Mexico, did not occur until sometime after the colonizing efforts of
Juan de Onate in 1598. Close to four hundred years have passed
during which the Indians and the Hispanic settlers have had to
contend with each other’s presence. Those years have erupted in
violence on several occasions, most notably the 1680 revolt of the
Pueblo Indians that succeeded in driving the Spanish completely
out of the area. The Taos Indians were always in the forefront of
these efforts. Indeed the plot to revolt in 1680 was hatched at Taos
Pueblo. Armed revolt gave way to legal battles. Through the centuries, and even today, constant disagreements between the Pueblo
and the Hispanic people have ensued over land encroachment and
water rights.2
Contact pressures on the Taos Indians only increased in intensity after the American occupation and domination of the region in
the 1840s. The years of the late nineteenth century and early
decades of the twentieth century reflect the control of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs over the Pueblo including compulsory education of
the children in far off boarding schools. There also was a massive
attack in the 1920s on the practice of traditional Indian religion;
Taos Pueblo was one of the prime targets. And, beginning in 1898,
a vibrant, intellectually oriented, and staunchly pro-Indian art
colony was established in the Anglo/Hispanic town of Fernandez
de Taos only three miles from the Pueblo. Some of the artists and
members of the decidedly “Bohemian” colony were enamored
with the culture of the Taos Indians and often tried to meddle in
the Pueblo’s affairs (in, as they saw it, the Indians’ best interests).
This proved to be a mixed blessing. The art colony could almost
always be counted on as an ally in the Pueblo’s efforts to thwart
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change, but Anglo meddling was not something most Taos Indians
wanted.3
In many respects, the perseverance of the Taos Indians to
maintain their traditions mirrors the same general kind of struggle
waged by American Indian tribes all over the country. From the
very first, Europeans and their descendants had assumed, and
often promoted forcibly, that Indian people should embrace total
assimilation into the Euro-American model of culture and civilization. Many Indian groups succumbed to these pressures and have
disappeared or been badly weakened in the process, but many others did not and that certainly includes the people of Taos Pueblo.
The management of change and the extent of acculturation varies
among the many groups. The case of Taos illustrates patterns of
persistence in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. The Taos
did not only maintain traditions; they survived as a culture. To
treat the matter adequately, a number of highlights of Taos culture
need to be presented.
LOCATION AND GENERAL
CHARACTERISTICS
At an elevation of 7,100 feet, Taos Pueblo was built at the base of
the Sangre de Cristo mountains, a southern extension of the
Rockies. The mountains rise majestically to a height of over thirteen thousand feet behind the village and are the source of a number of streams and small rivers that descend from the high alpine
lakes and melting winter snows to water the broad semi-arid
expanse of Taos valley. Ultimately they pour into the headwaters
of the Rio Grande. One is the Rio Pueblo de Taos which bisects the
wide plaza of the Pueblo itself, separating the north side house of
five irregular stories from the four-storied south side house. This
ever-flowing small river, spanned by three foot bridges, begins at
the sacred Blue Lake of the Taos Indians at an elevation of 11,500
feet above the Pueblo. Through the centuries it has been the primary source of water for human and livestock needs as well as for the
irrigation of corn and other crops grown by the Taos.
Other important features of the Pueblo are six large underground ceremonial chambers called kivas in which religious ritual
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PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
is performed by the all-male societies attached to each kiva. They
are accessed by long ladders that descend into these most sacred
circular structures. Three kivas are on the north side of the
Pueblo, and three are on the south. The remains of a low adobe
wall surrounds the village. It was formerly much higher and
served as an effective barrier to protect the Pueblo and its livestock from marauding nomadic Indian bands. The horses and cattle were simply run into the village at night and corralled. While
no longer needed for that purpose, the wall is still culturally significant. Anything inside the wall is sacred and must not be
changed; anything outside the wall is less so. No modern conveniences such as electricity and running water are permitted today
inside the wall. Formerly, homes in the Pueblo were reached by
climbing ladders and descending another ladder through a trap
door in the roof of the house. No door or window openings were
cut in the Pueblo walls until after 1900. The ruins of the Pueblo’s
Catholic mission church (destroyed in the 1847 insurrection of
Mexican nationals and Taos Indians against U.S. control over
New Mexico) are within the wall. The courtyard and roofless
nave of the church have served as the village cemetery since the
defeat by the U.S. army. Another Catholic mission church, dedicated to the Pueblo’s patron saint, San Geronimo (St. Jerome), was
built after that fateful event and stands just inside the major
entrance into the Pueblo.4
The 1990 U.S. census indicates 1,970 persons self-identified as
Taos Indians. It is estimated that 1,200 currently reside on the
90,000 acre reservation. About 770 others reside elsewhere, in
Albuquerque and Santa Fe and in other major western cities,
especially those in Colorado, Arizona, and California where
steady employment is available.5 The number of people still residing in the two old pueblo apartment houses has declined steadily
in the decades of the twentieth century. After World War II many
returning veterans and their families opted to live year round in
what had been their summer houses, constructed near fields and
pastures, scattered about the reservation. In 1971, 105 of the typically two-room homes in the old Pueblo were still occupied by
about three hundred persons.6 Today the number has dwindled
to only 150 people, many of whom are older and refuse or can’t
afford to leave the homes they have lived in most of their lives.
A major catalyst for this change in settlement pattern was the
construction, beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, of low-
TAOS PUEBLO
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cost tract houses by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development. Situated well away from the old village, but still on
the reservation, these homes provide electricity and indoor
plumbing. They also mean privacy from the hordes of tourists
who flock daily to see the old Pueblo and whose cars create traffic
congestion, heat, and pollution especially in the peak summer
tourist months. However, it is still the rule that people should
return to their old village homes for the sacred winter ceremonials if at all possible. This scattering of the tribe over the reservation has not meant a shift away from thinking of the old village as
the core of Pueblo life. Everyone still identifies it as their primary
home even if population increase makes it impossible for the old
apartments to accommodate them all. As a boundary maintaining
mechanism, both literally and psychologically, the reservation,
but foremost the Pueblo itself, is paramount in defining who
belongs and who does not. The old Taos saying, “We are in one
nest,” is still repeated. As a discussion of family life will reveal,
outsiders through marriage have never been welcome residents.
That is particularly the case regarding residence in the Pueblo
itself.
ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION
Traditionally, the Taos, like all other Pueblo Indians in New
Mexico and Arizona, were agriculturalists first and secondarily
hunters and gatherers. Many became animal herders after the
introduction of domesticated animals by the Spanish. Their
communities engaged in trade with each other, certain nomadic
groups, and the Spanish. The Taos were particularly favored by
their environment for the production of corn, wheat, and other
crops in spite of the relatively short growing season given the
elevation. It was reported in 1776 that when drought hit regions
south of Taos, other Pueblo people could come to Taos, the most
northern of the Rio Grande Pueblo towns, to obtain food not just
once but many times. 7 Hunting seems to have been a more
prominent activity at Taos than for many other Pueblos. The
mountains behind the Pueblo were well stocked with deer, elk,
bear, grouse, and smaller mammals and birds. Antelope could
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PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
be taken on the plateau land west of the Pueblo, while annual
buffalo hunts through a mountain pass east of the Pueblo and
onto the Plains provided meat as well as hides. The Taos gained
the reputation as excellent horsemen. Horses are still highly valued today, but more for prestige than anything else. Taos may
have been the only pueblo where women routinely rode horses,
although they were not active hunters. The Taos gathered many
species of wild plants, including wild onions, many kinds of
berries, pine nuts, osha (wild celery), and sage. Family outings
are still organized to obtain these natural products. Innumerable
wild flowers figure importantly in ceremonial observance today
as in the past.8
Today the traditional economic pattern has largely disappeared. Fewer Indians make significant income from farming
activities. Even cattle raising has declined markedly. Of course
the buffalo are long gone; however, the Taos maintain a small
herd on the reservation for themselves and a few animals are
slaughtered annually for special tribal festivities. Antelope or elk
hunting has largely dwindled to the level of sportsmanship, but
deer and rabbits must still be obtained for traditional Indian food,
which is required for a number of kiva and kiva training activities
when no foreign food, such as wheat bread or beef, is permitted.
Each year a number of families plant small gardens in which
corn, squash, melons, and beans are grown for household or
wider family consumption. Chicken and pigs are tended by a
few, but the Taos never herded sheep or goats. Wheat is grown
by some, as well as alfalfa for those with horses or cattle. One reason for the significant decline in agricultural endeavors and the
accompanying decline in self-sufficiency is the result of inheritance patterns. Houses, land, and other valuables are often divided among one’s children. This fractionization of scattered land
parcels has made it impossible to control sufficient acreage on
which to grow economically meaningful crops. (Much of the
ninety thousand acre reservation is mountainous and unsuitable
for agriculture in any case.)
The basis of monetary support currently is wage work if it
can be obtained in the surrounding Anglo/Hispanic communities
where there is fierce competition with the local Spanish American
population even for domestic and menial labor. There is heavy
reliance on various forms of federal aid including often minimal
TAOS PUEBLO
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social security payments, welfare, military pensions, food stamps,
and the like; and since 1970 much greater involvement in arts and
crafts production has occurred for sale to collectors and tourists.
Tourism is the only industry of major importance for all of Taos
valley. The thriving art colony with its many galleries, studios,
boutiques, arts and crafts stores, motels, and restaurants is overwhelmingly owned and controlled by Anglos and a few Spanish
American entrepreneurs. Indians have been hired by these
establishments in very secondary roles compared with the
numerically dominant Hispanics who fill most of the subordinate employee slots. Significantly, all of this activity is centered
away from the Pueblo in the town of Taos and the surrounding
valley. The immediate region has not been a truly reliable
source for the many Indians seeking employment. Indians
receive hiring preference to staff the federal programs active on
the reservation, but most young adults must leave Taos to find
gainful employment and quite often that includes the better
educated who have the knowledge for white or skilled blue-collar work. A number of Taos women have received training in
the health fields, particularly nursing. Of course, this out-migration leaves the conservative core at the Pueblo. Older people are
still fulfilling vital roles in the socialization and enculturation of
their children and grandchildren. This is a major factor in maintaining the old ways and critically important to the continuing
acquisition of the Taos language by successive generations of
Taos Indians.
Northern New Mexico generally, and certainly the Taos area
including the Pueblo, is an economically depressed region with
very high unemployment and a very low per capita income rate.
While it is true that Indian reservation land is not subject to federal or state taxation, the Taos must pay the same high New Mexico
sales taxes off the reservation and federal income tax as everyone
else. Comparatively few Indians are prosperous enough to worry
about income tax per se because their annual earnings are so low.
Many families live well below the national poverty level; however, patterns of reciprocity are strong enough so that hunger has
never been a real problem. The federal government also provides
health care and educational benefits as well as old age assistance
for Indian people, but dignified poverty is largely characteristic of
the on-reservation Taos population.
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PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
DIVISION OF LABOR
There was a rather clear division of labor along the lines of sex and
age. Traditionally, men were the farmers and hunters, while
women maintained gardens and engaged in household chores.
Women were the potters and fashioned the plain utilitarian pottery—the only ware produced at Taos—while men were the drum
makers and preparers of hides for moccasins, women’s boots, and
other articles of old-time apparel, such as leggings and buckskin
shirts. It was the women who whitewashed the interior walls and
ceilings of their pueblo homes and did most of the mudding on
outdoor adobe walls, but men usually did the heavier work of mixing the mud and straw for these replastering jobs. Men tended
horses and cattle, while women raised chickens and pigs.
Generally, the chores were rather evenly divided. Older men often
split their time between traditional male work and religious
and/or political roles. Older women continued their involvement
in the household, but increasingly have become the guardians of
younger children. Unless a major medical calamity occurred, such
as a debilitating stroke, old people were and still are rarely abandoned by their families to old age or nursing homes. Nor were they
resented because of their age or infirmities; rather they were cherished. Today, if either husband or wife or both are able to secure
local employment, they leave the house during the day to fulfill the
demands of their jobs. Older women of the immediate or extended
family take over the bulk of the day to day care of infants and small
children, influencing and instilling in their young charges proper
respect for expected Taos behavior and traditions.
MARRIAGE, FAMILY,
AND HOUSEHOLD
Ideally, marriage should take place between a man and a woman
who are both Taos and indeed very strong pressure toward marriages within the tribe has been exerted through the years. To
maintain tradition, the Taos saw a serious threat in marriages with
TAOS PUEBLO
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outsiders, especially with Spanish and Anglos but also with other
Indians. Even Indians from other Pueblos were frowned upon
because “They do not share our customs.” In the majority of cases
such unions resulted in the couple living away from the reservation, even if that meant only moving to the town of Taos three
miles distant. At times, de facto eviction from the reservation was
the norm, forcible eviction the threat. A study conducted in 1971
showed that only twenty-four outsiders were resident at the
Pueblo, a figure much lower than for several other large Pueblos.9
Only seven were adult males, while seventeen were women who
had married Taos men. All were either Pueblo Indians or Indians
from other tribes, except one young Hispano female. The Indians
have explained their strong reluctance to allow outsiders to live at
the Pueblo by citing their lack of familiarity with Taos rules and
therefore their inability to perform a variety of community duties
which every adult in good standing must do. Community duties
range from dance participation for both men and women to assisting in cleaning the irrigation ditches in the spring (a man’s chore)
or preparing food for feast days and kiva needs (a woman’s job).
While all this is assuredly true, the underlying reason is more basic,
namely, cultural traditions will be compromised if outsiders are
permitted residence. They will never be able to play a truly supportive role in Pueblo affairs. They cannot hold political office nor
have any standing in the religious system, and will not socialize
their children in Taos ways. The code of secrecy, to be discussed
later, could be broken because their very presence will put them
into situations in which they might observe religious behavior that
only Taos people should know about.
In spite of the opposition to outside marriage, this regulation
has been broken many times and increasingly so in recent years. As
young people have been more and more involved in the world outside the Pueblo, through years of education in Indian or public
schools as well as in employment off the reservation, “mixed” marriages have increased. As the conservative members of the tribe
predicted, many children are being raised either completely away
from the Pueblo, and hence not exposed to Taos enculturation altogether, or are growing up in families where they are only marginally involved in Taos culture. This is reflected in a loss of language
skills. As even the Taos Pueblo Day School admits, many children
have either very little or a largely imperfect command of the Taos
language. Steps are being taken to correct this at least partially.
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PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
Programs beginning with Head Start instruction and continuing on
through the sixth grade, which is as far as the Pueblo Day School
goes, have been initiated to instruct children in Taos speech and
dramatize Taos heritage through the enactment of folktales and
the like. Storytelling was traditionally a role filled by grandparents
for their younger descendants and stories were told properly only
in the winter. Grandparents now find themselves helping the
school programs by serving as storytellers and consultants to the
school. Telling traditional folktales and myths has been eclipsed
by television even in families where Taos is the first language of
communication.
While marriages with outsiders were frowned upon, the outside spouse resented, and the couple looked upon as less than
ideal, no such avoidance or discrimination was directed toward
the children of such unions. The Taos position was that it was not
the children’s fault and they should not suffer for the actions of
their parents. Because “mixed” unions have often ended in separation or divorce, a number of children, some of them less than
“Indian” in appearance, have been raised at Taos including some
boys being initiated into the kivas. As the Pueblo Indian anthropologist Edward Dozier documented in 1961, the kinship organization, the socialization process, and the wider network of intraPueblo communication have remained essentially undisturbed.
The indigenous beliefs, values, and moral concepts remained
because the aboriginal family type and the old community patterns were not disturbed.10
At Taos the nuclear family (parents and children) is significantly embedded in a wider kin network, with the equal recognition of
both one’s mother’s and one’s father’s families, all other things
being equal. This larger set of kin was and remains important as a
source of individual identity and security. While Taos preserves a
strong sense of communality and formally proclaims a largely egalitarian ethos, the socialization process encourages individualism
from an early age within acceptable boundaries. Children at Taos
are permitted a considerable degree of freedom. They rarely disagree with their elders openly, but on the other hand individual
decision making is admired. The Indians find it both amusing and
appropriate for a young child to make known his or her intentions
about a particular matter. Adults make it implicitly clear what constitutes approved and acceptable behavior in given situations. If
the child disagrees, he or she is not forced to comply. It is only after
making the non-approved choice a sufficient number of times that
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most children learn to follow the suggestions and behavior of their
elders. They do not receive discourses of either praise or condemnation. Learning to conform is effected largely by observation and
imitation. The proper age to assume this task is when children are
about five or six. They are now individuals capable of making their
own decisions and are presumed old enough to understand proper
behavior. They will learn by making mistakes and, if they should
harm themselves physically or otherwise in the process, they have
no one to blame but themselves. This pattern of learning to conform extends throughout a person’s life. Even a hopeless alcoholic,
while on the one hand greatly pitied for succumbing to this illness,
on the other is felt to be totally responsible for the outcome. Open
disapproval normally will not be vocalized within the immediate
family when antisocial behavior is committed, but other persons in
the community will be quick to pass judgment. This constitutes one
of the most effective means of exacting conformity—gossip. It is
widespread, but it rarely invades the sanctity of the family.
For the child the adult symbolizes success in terms of having
overcome the many problems of intra-community contact. Adults
are respected because they rarely interfere with the child’s will
while at the same time they remain the source of support for the
individual. As a result, even though there is significant disparity at
Taos today between the desires of the younger and older generations, the young rarely bring their disagreements home and rarely
argue with their parents over a matter they may have openly
argued in the community. This is a system that has been very
important in impeding certain kinds of change at Taos. While a
younger person may be in opposition to the dictates of the “old
guard” at the Pueblo, he or she will not seek support for that position within the immediate family unless certain members agree.
One becomes a person at the age of five and security resides within
the family of birth and its extensions. Outside of that unit, individuals are pretty much on their own. It would be a grave mistake to
jeopardize the support of one’s family. Moreover, the community
is composed of identical units, so the structure of communality is
something one understands and with which one must learn to
cooperate. Respect for one’s own elders is, therefore, extendable to
the elders of others. In this manner, there has been a perpetuation
of family stability within the proper boundaries of acceptable Taos
behavior.11
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PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS
ORGANIZATION
Political and religious organization are closely intertwined at Taos,
so that discussing both more or less together makes more sense
than somewhat artificially separating them. In effect, there are two
complementary bodies of Taos government: (1) the civil branch,
which reflects to a considerable extent the imposition of governing
positions by the Spanish after their conquest of the Pueblos in the
1600s, and (2) the Taos Council, which has its base in religion. It is
composed of fifty to sixty males, all kiva trained, and is the body
that annually appoints the members of the civil branch. Both have
played important roles in maintaining Taos culture.
Each January 1, the Council announces the twenty-one civil
officers who will serve for the year. They include the Governor,
Lieutenant Governor, and eight members of the Governor’s staff: a
secretary, a sheriff, an assistant sheriff, a fiscal, an assistant fiscal,
and three staff members. Generally the fiscales are responsible for
matters dealing with the Catholic mission of San Geronimo (St.
Jerome). The sheriffs assist the Governor with the civil order of the
Pueblo.
Rounding out the civil government are the War Chief, Lieutenant War Chief, a secretary, and eight staff who operate independently from the Governor and his men. This group is responsible
for problems and activities that arise outside the village but generally on Pueblo land, for example, the organization of the indirectly
religious rabbit hunts, repair of range fences, rotation of stock, and
patrol of the mountain forest area for fires and unauthorized trespassers on the reservation.12
The four top positions are Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
War Chief, and Lieutenant War Chief. Serving as one of these
automatically makes a man a lifetime member of the Council.
However, to be appointed to any of the top four secular positions
a man must have been fully trained in Taos religion and an active
member of one of the six Taos kivas. To put it another way, it
means that only those who were initiated when they were eight
to ten years old are eligible to serve. This has restricted the number of Taos men who can fill truly important roles in Taos governing, because not all boys are initiated and others were subjected
TAOS PUEBLO
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to only six months of kiva training (short term) rather than a full
term of twelve or eighteen months.
Each of the six kivas has two leaders. One becomes a member
of the Council when assuming one of these religious roles whether
or not the individual ever served in secular government. This helps
to explain why a number of model Taos Indians are members of
the Council, but not civil leaders. It also illustrates the degree to
which religion and governing are so closely intertwined and
reveals why certain individuals are chosen more than once to be
Governor or War Chief, but never consecutively in the same position. At least two or usually several years will pass before a previous Governor will be appointed to serve again. While strong men
have emerged from time to time at Taos, the system of annual
reappointment of the civil officers, particularly the Governor,
restricts any individual from formally exercising power more than
year to year.
The qualities that a man should ideally possess to serve in government show rather dramatically what the Taos consider important in the continuation of tradition. A man should be married to a
Taos woman and have a strong nuclear family, or a wider kin network, who can help him during his year in office. Government
positions are not lucrative, rather financial and temporal burdens,
although all expenses incurred to properly fill the role in the course
of one’s tenure will be covered by tribal funds. The positions are
viewed as duties performed for the community in spite of the varying degrees of prestige they bring. Residence in or very near the
old village was an important factor until the 1980s so that holders
of the top offices were readily available should a problem arise.
With a newly constructed tribal administration building some distance from the old Pueblo, which houses offices with separate telephones for the Governor and War Chief, much less importance is
attached today to the location of home residence. Also home telephones have become increasingly common, outside the old village,
of course.
Sobriety is very highly valued. To be known as a drinker
excludes a man from a top position in government almost as automatically as not having been kiva trained. Even more important is
whether a man faithfully performs his community duties. There
are men at Taos who are not kiva trained, do not participate in government, or will not conform to traditional dress codes when
appropriate, but are in good standing because they perform their
community duties and do not cause problems. Causing problems
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PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
means that a man should not attract attention because of behavior
contrary to Taos norms, like drinking excessively, nor should
members of his family. However, consistent with Taos socialization, a person is evaluated largely on the basis of his or her own
behavior.
Those few anthropologists who have conducted research at
Taos have all labeled it markedly conservative. Elsie Clews
Parsons, who published the only full ethnography of Taos
Pueblo in 1936, documented twenty-seven patronymics (family
names derived from the father) at Taos.13 By 1974 the tribal roll
revealed 135 patronymics. This dramatic increase resulted from
out-marriage by Taos women. Most of these families were not
resident at the Pueblo. A study of Taos government conducted
in 1988 showed that the Taos Governors since 1940, a span of
nearly fifty years, carried only twelve patronymics. All are on
Parsons’ list. These men came from what might be termed the
old, well-established families. The pattern reflects the pressures
discouraging non-Taos from residence and full participation at
the Pueblo. From a profile of 185 men, only four—all full bloods,
kiva trained, and Taos raised, but bearing the last names of their
non-Taos Indian fathers, have served in government. Each
served only one term in a minor staff position in the late 1970s
and 1980s.14
Both the Governor and the War Chief have a secretary
appointed to their respective staffs, with the secretary to the
Governor far more important in recent decades than the man
serving the War Chief. No woman has ever served in any capacity in Taos government, unlike a few other Rio Grande Pueblos
recently. The office of the Governor has been burdened with
many new responsibilities as interaction of the tribe with the outside world increased markedly. The ability of younger men, who
often served repeatedly as secretaries, to speak, read, write, and
translate English into Taos, which many of the older men could
not do, was still a crucial service as late as the 1960s. Internally,
the affairs of government are still conducted in the Taos language, but in the 1970s and 1980s most men understood English
as well as the secretaries. Handling technical English remains
important, but translation per se is not. Taos now has a fulltime
Tribal Administrator and a Director of Tourism—both Taos
Indians, plus Anglo consultants. A new jail, a long-awaited community hall, and a summer tour guide system using Taos
TAOS PUEBLO
17
teenagers are other important projects on a changing scene which
have lessened the importance of the secretary’s role as a
spokesman for the Governor in formal communication with the
outside world.
Looking at Taos government over fifty years reveals more
about structural persistence and traditional values than it does
about change, in spite of what is reflected above, as the Taos have
been drawn more and more into interaction with the wider society. Kiva training and sobriety are crucial factors affecting eligibility for service in the political system, while marital choice, community standing, family prominence, and permanence of residence
are highly relevant if not absolutely required. Actually, it is the
whole tapestry of a man’s commitment to Taos culture, which
develops after years of immersion in the day-to-day life drama at
the Pueblo, that determines his suitability for government. Age
per se is not the criterion even though the average age of the
Governors on first incumbency was sixty-five.15 Hence contrary to
what previous writers often assume, real political power in Taos is
not equally open to all.16
A myth has persisted that the Hispanic-imposed Pueblo civil
government is but a facade masking the real identity of the kiva
based power brokers in the Council. In fact, the Governor is most
probably seen in the Taos mind as replacing the aboriginal Town
Chief.17 If so, the dualism of Town or Peace Chief versus Outside
or War Chief, which is so apparent in many cultures elsewhere in
native North America, also exists at Taos.
The Taos Council is the forum in which every major issue facing the tribe must be lengthily discussed, but it needs to be
remembered that the Council often contains the very same persons who in the past or currently fill the top ranks of civil government, or perform the rituals of the kivas, or both. All must be
dedicated to Taos tradition through their training and belief in
Taos religion. There is a slowly evolving personnel base, with
attrition through death and the addition of new members as old
kiva leaders die and promising younger men are tapped to serve
in government. But the unity achieved by a required unanimity of
opinion allows perspectives to change, as new challenges are presented, and at the same time protects the continuity of traditional
Taos culture. It is always best if everyone in the Council agrees on
a given issue. Matters have often been tabled for months, even
years, until consensus was reached. Majority rule is not the Taos
way; rather it is expressed in the old statement, “Let us move
18
PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
evenly together.” Pragmatically, the Taos are well aware of the
significant changes that have occurred in their lives, but they are
ever on their guard to ensure that a given change will not
adversely affect what they have tried to maintain of the past. In
large measure, they have been successful.
It should be obvious that both the governing and religious
systems at Taos constitute highly elitist bodies that permit or
block innovation and largely direct the affairs of all the people,
most particularly those resident on the reservation. Resentment of
the system and rebellion against it have led innumerable times to
the appearance of factionalism. It seems certain that factionalism
is an old feature of Puebloan culture. While exacerbated by the
many forces of outside intervention since contact, there is good
evidence that factionalism occurred in pre-contact times. Often
destructive in its consequences on the lives of individuals caught
up in a factional dispute, it has not been strong enough to dissolve the system. So Taos culture persists in part because of the
stormy history of factionalism that lies behind contemporary Taos
affairs.18
THE LONG STRUGGLE
FOR BLUE LAKE
No other issue has so greatly involved the attention of the Taos
Indians than the battle they waged for the return of their sacred
Blue Lake and the mountain area surrounding it. As mentioned
earlier, Blue Lake is the primary source of the water supply of the
Pueblo and is also the focal point for the annual pilgrimage of the
Taos in late August to validate publicly the final initiation rites of
young Taos boys being inducted into the kiva system. There was
little interference in the religious affairs of the Indians until
increased settlement by Anglo Americans occurred at the turn of
the twentieth century. The most fateful event happened in 1906
when President Theodore Roosevelt took the Blue Lake lands and
proclaimed them part of what is now the Carson National Forest.
Roosevelt’s reputation as a sportsman, and within that context as a
conservationist, is well known. His opinion regarding Indians and
TAOS PUEBLO
19
their aboriginal land rights may be less so. He said,
“…to recognize the Indian ownership of the limitless forest
and prairies of this continent—that is, to consider the dozen
squalid savages who hunted at long intervals over a territory
of a thousand square miles as owning it outright—necessarily
implies a similar recognition of every white hunter, squatter,
horse thief, or wandering cattleman.”19
With this unlawful act on the part of the President, the Taos
Indians began the struggle for the restoration of the Blue Lake
lands to their reservation. It lasted for sixty-four years, until
December 15, 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed into law
the Blue Lake Bill which returned forty-eight thousand acres of
high mountain land to trust status for the Taos Pueblo tribe. This
marked the first time in the long and often strained period of
U.S./American Indian relations that land, unjustly taken by the
government, and not monetary compensation which the Taos had
steadfastly refused, was returned to an Indian people.
The restoration of Blue Lake to the Taos reservation not only
had profound effects on the Taos people, but was heralded triumphantly by American Indian people all over the country and
labeled by some the greatest victory for U.S. Indians in the twentieth century. Obtaining Blue Lake was instrumental in the filing of
many claims by other Indian tribes for land they considered sacred,
because the final key to the battle the Taos waged was in large
measure the argument of freedom of religion. This became a powerful cry in a country where, ideologically and legally at least, freedom of religious worship is a sacred value. It seems certain that the
Self Determination Act and the American Indian Religious
Freedom Act of 1984 were directly influenced by the issues raised
in the Blue Lake controversy.20
What effects have been felt since the return of Blue Lake in
1970? What changes are apparent in the rhythm of life at the
Pueblo? First, it seems certain that the return of the Lake greatly
increased the cultural pride of the people, their self-confidence, and
their aggressiveness in facing the problems presented by the dominant society. In the course of the Blue Lake struggle, the old men of
the Council were forced to talk more openly than ever before about
their culture and the religious importance of Blue Lake. They did
so in a very guarded fashion, using rather meaningless generalities
20
PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
such as “Blue Lake is our church,” but nevertheless the total curtain of secrecy was raised and a degree of openness created that is
still having ramifications today.
One of the factors contributing to the survival of Taos culture has been the pervasive use of secrecy about their traditions
in all their dealings with the non-Indian world. The Taos, as
well as the other Pueblos, learned during the centuries of
Spanish and then Anglo missionary activity, that it was best to
reveal nothing, if at all possible, about their aboriginal religious
beliefs and practices. Secrecy about their culture generally, their
language, and most especially secrecy concerning religious matters, became the watchword and is strictly adhered to. It has
also been shown to be a very basic internal Pueblo an cultural
mechanism used successfully in the social control of members of
the tribe. 21 Secrecy, both internal and external, is basic to
Puebloan culture and there is ample evidence that it is a precontact organizing feature of Puebloan society. Certainly it is
ingrained in the personalities of Pueblo people through the
enculturation process.
Sacred knowledge is held separately by the various religious
societies in the six kivas of Taos. Correct performance by each
society in private is needed so that the Taos world will function
properly. This knowledge is not shared, but compartmentalized.
To an uninitiated Taos Indian all of it is unknown, but firmly
believed to be necessary and powerful. One should not question
why something is as it is, only accept that it would be detrimental
to the traditions that have kept the culture intact if it were
revealed even to other Taos. There would be a loss of strength
and a sapping of cultural integrity and vitality. The insistence on
secrecy has been a major force in impeding change in all the
Pueblos, and certainly at Taos.
The return of Blue Lake did not alter that, rather it intensified it
at a time when the older people were watching with alarm and
sadness the growing unrest and seeming indifference among the
younger generations toward active participation in their culture.
This was particularly true in the 1950s and 1960s. Blue Lake
became a rallying point for old and young alike to revitalize their
commitment to their traditions. They have done so remarkably. A
renewed interest of Indians, including younger ones, in their cultures is by no means limited to Taos. It is observable all over North
America; at Taos there is now less alienation from the old ways
because Blue Lake is intrinsically “ours and only ours.”
TAOS PUEBLO
21
This is an excellent example of the intensification of a nativistically oriented approach to change, in the face of pressures to conform to the attitudes and behavioral patterns of the dominant society. Indians, and certainly the Taos, never relinquished their identity as Indians. The twentieth century has nevertheless presented
them with a multitude of alternatives and these have been particularly difficult to sort out for the younger people as they thread their
way through life in two worlds.
Many of the other changes that have occurred at Taos since
1970 are further examples of cultural revitalization, cast in a
nativistic mold. The people clamored for a long time to have a
community center where they could come together for purely secular affairs and gatherings. There was resistance on the part of the
Council, who were fearful that it would provide a haven wherein
dissension might be spawned. The Council today is composed of a
number of voices who in 1970 were not yet eligible to serve, but
had rallied for change in their younger years. Anthropologically,
they represent the more acculturated. As the oldest generations die
off, acceptance of change is more palatable, but only if it does not
threaten the traditional ways or at least is perceived not to be a
menace. And so, since the middle 1980s, the Taos have had their
community center, which is the site of frequent traditional dances
and powwows that are largely secular but very Indian in nature.
Powwows are often held as benefits for one cause or another—a
time-honored Indian custom among the Plains people and elsewhere. More than any other Pueblo, the Taos have long been noted
for producing excellent singers, drummers, and dancers for panIndian celebrations around the country. Intertribal powwows organized and executed by an Indian tribe, as opposed to commercial
events such as the Gallup, New Mexico, Intertribal Indian
Ceremonial, provide an exciting opportunity for people from many
tribes to come and compete for prizes in best dancing, drumming,
and costuming categories and usually allow for the exchange and
sale of arts and crafts.
The Taos initiated the Taos Pueblo Powwow in 1984. It has
become one of the largest annual gatherings of Indian people from
all over the United States and Canada. The Taos reap only a modest entrance and parking fee from the inevitable flocks of tourists
who come to watch the spectacle, but in the process they may buy
jewelry, pottery, and other items from the many Indians, including
the Taos, who bring their handicrafts and art objects for sale.
Obviously, there is no direct connection with the foregoing and the
22
PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
return of Blue Lake, but the return in part facilitated a climate in
which such things could grow. The community center and the Taos
powwow have been active forces encouraging individual and tribal identity on a secular plane, while Blue Lake has done the same
on a higher, more religious level.
Another important change at Taos in the last two or three
decades is a marked increase in the number of Taos producing fine
art, based on Indian thematic elements of a wide variety, as well as
a renewed interest in the production of quite traditional Taos manufactures, such as their traditional style of pottery. Authentic Taos
drums are almost legendary. One especially noted drum maker
takes orders from buyers all over the United States and abroad in
response to the vibrant non-Indian market for things “Indian.” The
profit he derives is somewhat bittersweet in that a particularly fine
drum may well be headed for use as a lamp or coffee table. Absent
in the curio shops open at the Pueblo are the cheap imitations of
Indian jewelry (manufactured in Taiwan) and other “tourist junk”
found in Southwest curio stores. In the past, the shops at the Pueblo,
which have existed since at least the late 1930s or early 1940s, consisted simply of opening the front room of one’s home on the plaza
and propping up a crude hand made sign that read “Curios.” The
shops today are still in the old village homes facing the plaza, but
they now have individual names and modern display cases, shelves
,and racks to present a variety of goods. Another entrepreneurial
venture that has paid off since 1970 has been food concessions set
up in the plaza. “Traditional” Indian foods such as outdoor ovenbaked bread, pieces of pie, and fry bread are sold as snacks to hungry tourists. None of the above food items are aboriginal in that the
basic ingredient of the pastry is wheat. The Taos are well aware of
that fact, but wheat has been basic to the Taos diet since contact so
in this sense the food items now sold are traditional.
The Taos flatly admit that tourism is their primary source of
support on the reservation. As the number of tourists to the Taos
area has increased to several hundred thousand annually, the problems of handling them have become more and more difficult. They
constitute a very mixed blessing. They are a major source of tribal
revenue (from parking and camera fees) but their presence hastened
the exodus of many families from their village homes to escape the
congestion of people, the heat generated by their cars, and the pollution their engine exhausts created. Getting traffic in and out of the
Pueblo necessitated changing the route of exit from the village.
TAOS PUEBLO
23
Monitoring tourist behavior is another problem. One important bit
of evidence is that all exterior ladders, still needed to reach the
upper stories of the Pueblo, have been removed from the sides of
the buildings facing the plaza and placed on the back walls where
tourists are not permitted. They were too much of a temptation to
too many visitors, particularly children. The result is a strange
view of a traditional pueblo indeed—a pueblo without ladders.
One important note on the effects of tourists coming to the
Pueblo is a rather remarkable departure from the past, in effect
only since 1989. The Pueblo is completely closed to all outsiders for
a month in February and March. While one might assume that this
period is a breather from tourist pressure, it actually reflects another development associated with tourists. The “breather” period
occurs during the heart of the ski season; skiing is now a major
industry in the mountains north of Taos. It is true that most skiers
come for the sport and not to observe the Indians, but many would
come to the Pueblo if it were open. The real reason for closing the
Pueblo is that this is the time young boys enter the kivas to begin
their religious training for proper Taos manhood. The initiates
must maintain absolute privacy and are secluded even from members of their immediate families, and most definitely from outsiders. In the past when there were fewer people around, the boys
could usually avoid contact, visual and otherwise. Today that
would be nearly impossible. In keeping with the nativistic intent so
evident at Taos, the decision was reached to forego tourist revenue
in favor of protecting this very central aspect of Taos religion.
With the marked increase in the number of tourists, steps had
to be taken to preserve as much privacy as possible and at the same
time keep the Pueblo open to visitors most of the year. Sawhorses
with signs stating “Restricted Area” have been used for many
years as barricades to prevent tourists from wandering into the
back parts of the Pueblo or approaching the kivas too closely.
These kinds of compromises were effective, but for many people
the problems of daily living in the Pueblo became intolerable and
they moved into HUD housing outside the old Pueblo. They miss
their old Pueblo homes, but they now have electricity, running
water, and indoor toilets.
Anthropologists began to turn their attention to the phenomenon of tourism in earnest in the 1970s and particularly to what can
be termed ethnic tourism. Taos and the Pueblo certainly qualify as
targets for such research, and two papers with Taos tourism as the
24
PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
focus have been published recently.22 In addition the concept of
museumization has been coined to refer to a traditional or cultural
structure being converted into a staged setting for the entertainment of tourists, 23 as is obviously the case with colonial
Williamsburg. This does not seem to be applicable to the situation
at Taos Pueblo. There has been no conversion or staging of the site
to make it more appealing to visitors. The annual ceremonial round
of feast day performances, while reinvigorated somewhat by the
greater participation of younger Taos in recent years, is nevertheless the same as it has always been. The dances still have a deeply
religious meaning for the people, and photography is still strictly
prohibited. The annual Taos Pueblo Powwow is held on reservation land nearly two miles from the Pueblo itself. There is no evidence that any significantly conscious thought is given to the
effects of any of the foregoing on tourism, except perhaps to realize
that the Powwow attracts tourists. But even that event is sponsored
and executed by Indians for Indians. Many would be quite content
if no non-Indians came at all.
The changes occurring in response to tourism are largely of
two sorts: first, they are mechanisms for coping with tourists in a
manner that is hospitable, but as protective of the privacy of the
Indian people as possible. Second, the entrepreneurial activities of
the curio stores and food concessions are pragmatic responses to
obvious needs. At the May 3 Feast of Santa Cruz in 1992, two
women got into a fight over a spot where both wanted to set up
their food concessions. The Pueblo authorities were so disturbed by
this incident that henceforth all food concessions and curio stores
are to be closed on all future feast day celebrations. If the Indians
had wanted to turn the Pueblo into a living museum, they would
have found some alternative solution to closing the Pueblo completely in February and March, as well as a compromise solution to
the problem of two women vying for the same spot rather than
shutting everyone down on busy feast days.
Acculturative forces have been at work among the Taos as they
have been among all American Indian people and have altered
their lives in many meaningful ways. This has been particularly
true since intensive contact began in the twentieth century. It is no
wonder that many people marvel at the significant degree of cultural integrity American Indians have retained. In addition to all
the factors, internal and external, that have contributed to both the
loss and the retention of Taos culture through the centuries of contact, it is clear that the Indians believe that militant nativism is
TAOS PUEBLO
25
advantageous in preserving their culture.24 The Taos very actively
promote their ethnocentrism. The return of Blue Lake and its subsequent effects have heightened their cultural pride. The world
famous Pueblo of Taos reflects its people’s steadfast determination
to maintain tradition.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Given all the factors discussed in documenting how the Taos
Indians have maintained their traditions, none is more critical to
anthropological investigation than their strict adherence to secrecy
and silence when approached by outsiders regarding their private
affairs. The conservatism of the Taos has restricted considerably
the full range of information that an anthropologist normally
expects it is possible to obtain.
My association with the Taos people has been lifelong. I spent
many critical periods of my life from infancy, through the formative years of my childhood, and down to the present in their warm,
reserved, and supportive company. I learned in the same way any
Taos child learns that to listen, observe, and imitate others’ behavior are powerful tools for shaping your own proper behavior. Of
utmost importance is to learn never to betray another person’s confidence nor say anything that would compromise a person’s trust. I
knew all of these rules long before I discovered anthropology as an
undergraduate in the 1950s. When the time came to do my doctoral
dissertation research in the 1960s, I went to Taos Pueblo and began
the years of professional study that molded my career as an anthropologist. I am very grateful that I was accepted in my new role and,
in turn, used the knowledge I learned to help interpret the Taos
position on Blue Lake before the United States Senate. While I was
only one of many voices supporting their cause, my understanding
of both the Anglo American and Taos Indian worlds allowed me to
explain to many highly skeptical Senators why Blue Lake was so
important. I did so without compromising the secrecy the Indians
firmly believe must be maintained about their religion—a position
I have always deeply respected. I think it has been the creation of
an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect that has made it possible for me to return, as I have annually for nearly sixty years, and
26
PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
always be welcomed. I can’t imagine doing it any other way.
NOTES
1. Rick Romancito, “Pueblo Warily Accepts Honor,” The Taos News,
December 17, 1992, pp. 1 and A3.
2. Myra E. Jenkins, “Taos Pueblo and Its Neighbors, 1540–1847,”
New Mexico Historical Review 41 (1966): 85–114; Mark Simmons,
“History of the Pueblos Since 1821,” in Alfonso Ortiz, ed.,
Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 9 Southwest (Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1979), pp. 206–223.
3. John J. Bodine, “A Tri-Ethnic Trap: The Spanish Americans of
Taos,” Spanish Speaking People in the United States: Proceedings of the
Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society (Seattle,
WA: University of Washington Press, 1968), pp. 145–153.
4. John J. Bodine, “Taos Pueblo,” in Alfonso Ortiz, ed., Handbook of
North American Indians, vol. 9 Southwest (Washington, D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution, 1979), pp. 255–267.
5. 1990 United States Census, “American Indian Population by Tribe
for the United States, Regions, Divisions, and States: 1990”
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 1990), Table 1, p. 47.
6. John J. Bodine, “The Population Structure of Taos Pueblo,”
California Anthropologist 1 (1971): 6.
7. Francisco Atanacio Dominguez, The Missions of New Mexico, 1776,
trans. Eleanor B. Adams and Fray Angelico Chavez (Albuquerque,
NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1956), p. 112.
8. Bodine, “Taos Pueblo,” p. 256.
9. Bodine, “Population Structure,” p. 4.
10. Edward P. Dozier, “Rio Grande Pueblos,” in Edward H. Spicer,
ed., Perspectives in American Indian Culture Change (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1961), p. 179.
11. John J. Bodine, “Attitudes and Institutions of Taos, New Mexico:
Variables for Value System Expression” (Ph.D. diss., Tulane
University, 1967), pp. 114–125.
12. M. Estellie Smith, Governing at Taos Pueblo (Portales, NM: Eastern
New Mexico University Contributions in Anthropology 2, 1969),
TAOS PUEBLO
27
p. 10.
13. Elsie Clews Parsons, Taos Pueblo, General Series in Anthropology 2
(Menasha, WI: George Banta Publishing Co., 1936), pp. 52–56.
Reprint. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1971.
14. John J. Bodine, “Taos Government Revisited” (paper delivered at
the Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological
Association, Phoenix, Arizona, 1988).
15. Ibid.
16. Ruth F. Benedict, Patterns of Culture (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1934), pp. 57–129.
17. Smith, Governing at Taos Pueblo, p. 36.
18. John J. Bodine, “An Ethnohistorical Chronology of Taos
Factionalism, 1450–1975” (paper delivered at the Annual Meetings
of the American Ethnohistorical Society, Colorado Springs,
Colorado, 1981).
19. John Vance, “The Congressional Mandate and the Indian Claims
Commission,”North Dakota Law Review 45 (1969): 325.
20. R.C. Gordon-McCutchan, The Taos Indians and the Battle for Blue
Lake (Santa Fe, NM: Red Crane Books, 1991); John J. Bodine, “The
Taos Blue Lake Controversy,” The Journal of Ethnic Studies 6 (1978):
42–49.
21. Elizabeth Brandt, “On Secrecy and the Control of Knowledge:
Taos Pueblo,” in Stanton K. Tefft, ed., Secrecy: A Cross Cultural
Perspective (New York: Human Sciences Press, 1980), pp. 123–146.
22. Sylvia Rodriguez, “Art, Tourism, and Race Relations in Taos:
Toward a Sociology of the Art Colony,” Journal of Anthropological
Research 45 (1989): 77–99; and Sylvia Rodriguez, “Ethnic
Reconstruction in Contemporary Taos,” Journal of the Southwest 32
(1990): 541–555.
23. Dean MacCannell, “Reconstructed Ethnicity: Tourism and
Cultural Identity in Third World Countries,” Annals of Tourism
Research 11 (1984): 375–391.
24. John J. Bodine, “Taos Pueblo: A Symbol of American Indian
Perseverance” (paper delivered at the Conference “Continents in
Conversation,” University of Rouen, France, 1992).
SUGGESTED READINGS
28
PORTRAITS OF CULTURE
Bodine, John J. “Taos Pueblo,” in Alfonso Ortiz, ed., Handbook of North
American Indians, vol. 9 Southwest. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution, 1979, pp. 255–267. Provides a definitive ethnographic
overview of Taos culture.
Dozier, Edward P. The Pueblo Indians of North America. New York: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston, 1970. One of the best and most complete
treatments of the Pueblo Indians.
Gordon-McCutchan, R.C. The Taos Indians and the Battle for Blue Lake.
Santa Fe, NM: Red Crane Books, 1991. An absorbing account of
the sixty-four-year struggle for the return of Blue Lake.
Ortiz, Alfonso, ed., Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 9 Southwest.
Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1979. The definitive
sourcebook on all the Pueblo Indians—their prehistory, history,
and cultures.
Parsons, Elsie Clews. Taos Pueblo. General Series in Anthropology 2.
Menasha, WI: George Banta Publishing Co., 1936. Reprint. New
York: Johnson Reprint, 1971. The only full ethnography of Taos
Pueblo ever published.
Spicer, Edward H. Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and
the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533–1960. Tucson,
AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1962. A masterful treatment of
the centuries of contact between the Southwest Indians and the
three cultures that dominated them.
Portraits TOC