Marietta Wetherill: Reflections on Life With the Navajos in Chaco Canyon

Gabriel, Kathryn

ISBN 10: 1555660908 / ISBN 13: 9781555660901

Published by Johnson Books (edition First Edition), 1992

It's a preowned item in good condition and includes all the pages. It may have some general signs of wear and tear, such as markings, highlighting, slight damage to the cover, minimal wear to the binding, etc., but they will not affect the overall reading experience. Seller Inventory # 1555660908-11-1

Synopsis:

"Your head is round, not flat like ours," a Navajo told Marietta Palmer Wetherill. "You will remember and tell our story to the white man." In the years after she moved to Chaco Canyon in 1897 with her husband, Richard, Marietta Wetherill got to know the Navajos probably as intimately as a white person could. When her husband was murdered by a Navajo in 1910 in the midst of an interracial conflict, Marietta was spared because the Navajos considered her one of them rather than white. While Richard, who had previously discovered the Cliff Palace Ruins at Mesa Verde, was excavating at Chaco Canyon, Marietta ran their trading post and learned the Navajo ways. She became close friends with a singer, Hosteen Bi'al, who adopted her into the Chee clan. At his side, she learned the secrets of sand painting and curing dances, doctored the Navajos' illnesses, and served as a midwife. She observed the harsh code of Navajo ethics and even witnessed the execution of a bewitched singer.
In 1953, a year before her death, Marietta Wetherill told the story of her life to a newspaper reporter who recorded it on seventy-five reels of tape, bequeathing a priceless historical treasure to the future. It is on the transcripts of these tapes that Marietta Wetherill: Reflections on Life with the Navajos in Chaco Canyon is based. In Marietta's own words, the book vividly portrays the beauty and tragedy of life with the Navajos in the turn-of-the-century Southwest.

Reviews: A year before her death in 1953, Wetherill recorded lengthy interviews about her life among the Navajos of Chao Canyon in New Mexico at the turn of the century. Gabriel ( Roads to Center Place ) has edited and annotated the material to offer an illuminating glimpse of an unusual woman and her study of Navajo customs and crafts. In 1897 Marietta and her husband, Richard, who discovered the ruins of Mesa Verde, settled at Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico, where he worked on excavations and she ran a trading post. She was adopted into the tribe, which probably saved her life when Richard was killed by a Navajo in 1910. Marietta recalls taking 16 Navajos to the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904 to demonstrate their crafts. Her closest friend in the tribe was a singer, Nosteen Bi'al, who took her to medicine dances and to one ritual execution. Hers is a remarkable story of a woman on the frontier. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Marietta Wetherill: Reflections on Life With...
Publisher: Johnson Books (edition First Edition)
Publication Date: 1992
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Edition: First Edition.