Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Indians of New Mexico in 1880: Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 429-466

In Short

This volume presents an inventory compiled during an 1880 Smithsonian expedition across Indigenous pueblos in New Mexico. Led by James Stevenson, the survey records thousands of domestic, ceremonial, and industrial objects gathered from sites including Taos, Santa Clara, San Juan, and San Ildefonso. The work details the physical features, raw materials, and regional variations of Pueblo pottery and stone tools. It survives as a fundamental primary resource documenting Indigenous craftsmanship and material culture during an era of rapid regional change.

The Story

The text records the progression of a field survey examining the material life and traditional industries of the Rio Grande Pueblo communities. The journey begins at Taos, where the expedition team spends several days conducting inquiries and gathering specimens. Although the local pottery production at Taos has largely ceased—retained only by women married into the community from other villages—the expedition secures stone knives, rude axes, arrow smoothers, and traded ceramics. Moving fifty miles south along the Rio Grande, the survey arrives at San Juan. Despite its location on a heavily traveled military wagon road where many artifacts have already been bartered away to European visitors, the site yields significant finds. The team collects fine stone mortars, pestles, animal effigies, and iconic polished black earthenware.

Continuing downstream, the party enters Santa Clara, a center renowned for its specialized ceramic manufacturing. The investigation focuses on the production of polished black pottery, capturing the detailed mechanics of its baking and coloring processes. Beyond active villages, the survey examines ancient cliff dwellings cut into nearby walls. The party documents room layouts carved out with stone adzes, mortised beam sockets for outdoor shelters, storage niches, and life-sized animal images carved from tufa, including twin mountain lions.

The fieldwork proceeds through San Ildefonso, where inhabitants focus primarily on agriculture, and Nambe, an almost extinct village rich in abandoned metates and grinding tools. To extend the project's scope, local workers carry out secondary excavations across the older sites of Nambe, Pojuaque, and Cuyamunque, retrieving fragments and stone pounders. The narrative also examines specialized weaving technologies, detailing how vertical looms operate inside estufas to construct ceremonial textiles.

The final segments systematically index thousands of individual items collected across Jemez, Silla, Santa Ana, and San Ildefonso. The catalog closes at Taos, documenting grooved stone hatchets, polished black teapots, and decorated red and white canteens. Through this comprehensive listing, the volume brings its geographical survey to a complete, formal close.

How It Unfolds

The survey begins at Taos The expedition establishes its fieldwork by collecting stone implements, grooved hatchets, and traded ceramics, noting that local pottery production has virtually ceased except among intermarried families.

Documenting San Juan and Santa Clara Traveling south along the Rio Grande, the team gathers polished black ware, mortars, and carved stone animals at San Juan before documenting the active ceramic kilns and unique firing techniques of Santa Clara.

Exploring ancient cliff habitations The party examines deserted hillside dwellings carved from rock face tufa, mapping interior storage niches, beam sockets, carved mountain lion figures, and evidence of stone-adze excavation.

Excavating surrounding sites Investigations turn to agricultural communities like San Ildefonso and the declining pueblo of Nambe, where field hands recover extensive assemblages of metates, pounding stones, and antique ceramic shards.

Analyzing textile production The account pauses its geographical inventory to detail the mechanics of Pueblo and Navajo loom construction, describing how lease rods, warps, and wooden battens operate within sacred ceremonial spaces.

Cataloging regional collections The report concludes with an itemized inventory of thousands of artifacts gathered from Silla, Jemez, Santa Ana, and Taos, detailing everything from turquoise drills and gourd rattles to polished black urns.

The People

James Stevenson The leader of the expedition, Stevenson seeks to record and collect the physical evidence of Pueblo industrial arts before traditional practices are altered by contact with external traders. He systematically tracks ceramic variations, architectural remnants, and tool designs across every pueblo visited. His work establishes a detailed record of late nineteenth-century Indigenous material culture.

Mr. Galbraith A key member of the field party, Galbraith takes charge of direct site examinations in remote cliff areas. He undertakes independent explorations and collects archaeological specimens from ancient stone habitations.

The Local Field Assistant A long-term resident of Santa Fe employed by the survey team, he carries out dedicated excavations among the ruined sites of Old Nambe, Pojuaque, and Cuyamunque. His local familiarity allows the expedition to acquire extensive collections of prehistoric grinding stones and ceramic shards.

Pueblo Artisans and Weavers Though individual makers are not named in the scientific catalog, their collective expertise drives the report. Potters at Santa Clara and weavers working on vertical looms in ceremonial estufas preserve complex technical traditions, passing down methods for shaping polished blackware, carving turquoise, and constructing specialized tools.

In Its Own Voice

"The process, from the evidences shown inside, of carving out the interior of the dwelling was by scraping grooves several inches deep and apart, and breaking out the intermediate portion; in this way the work progressed until the room reached the desired size."

This direct observation describes how ancient inhabitants excavated their cliff rooms out of raw stone using simple hand implements.

"The particular class of blankets represented in this illustration is woven in the estufas, and is used almost exclusively in sacred dances and ceremonies of the tribe, all other garments being made in the houses or in the open air."

Here the text highlights the cultural and spiritual context behind the physical textiles gathered by the survey team.

"Small stones, chiefly quartz, basalt, and agate, used for smoothing and polishing pottery."

This typical catalog entry illustrates the basic, precise descriptions applied to thousands of everyday functional items throughout the report.

What It's Really About

At its core, the report investigates how human communities adapt their material culture to available natural resources. By recording subtle variations in clay types, mineral dyes, and stone materials, Stevenson documents how functional artistry varies from one village to the next along the Rio Grande.

The text also addresses the gradual displacement of traditional practices. The field observations repeatedly contrast ancient manufacturing methods with modern shifts, noting where pottery making has faded or where European items—like trade cups and metal teapots—have begun to influence local ceramic forms. Beyond a simple museum list, the volume serves as an early attempt to systematically categorize Indigenous technology, architecture, and religious paraphernalia before historic traditions were further modified by outside contact.

Why Read It Today

This work appeals to readers interested in Western history, Southwest archaeology, and the development of American anthropology. Rather than offering a sweeping narrative, it delivers an authentic, unvarnished look at late nineteenth-century fieldwork. The text reads like an active field log combined with a museum inventory, filled with concrete details about stone tools, firing methods, and village geography.

Reading the volume requires patience, as much of the text consists of itemized listings of rubbing stones, metates, ollas, and polished bowls. It reflects the colonial attitudes and dry, scientific vocabulary of early government ethnology. Yet, beneath the plain catalog entries lies a vivid record of Pueblo artistry. The persistent focus on physical details—the exact curve of a vessel's rim, the wear on a basalt hammer, or the stroke of mineral paint on a ceremonial canteen—gives the book its lasting historical weight.