The University of Arizona Press
On a Trail of Southwest Discovery
The Expedition Diaries of Frederick W. Hodge and Margaret W. Magill, 1886–1888
The Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition (1886–1889), directed by Frank Hamilton Cushing, was the first privately funded expedition to the American Southwest. This volume examines the expedition through the diaries of two participants who fell in love on the expedition: the field secretary, Fred Hodge, and the expedition artist, Margaret Magill—who was also Cushing’s sister-in-law. It also presents the first biographical treatment of Hodge, who became a major figure in early twentieth-century anthropology. The book’s first two sections chronicle the field operations of the expedition, while the third describes the long anthropological career of Hodge after the end of the expedition. Through deep research in primary and secondary sources and archival materials, the book details both the daily operations of the expedition and the growing romantic relationship between Hodge and Magill.
For those interested in settlements in early Arizona and Zuni Pueblo, the book provides rare insights into the lives of both men and women, offering an intimate view of an enterprise that is now considered a foundation of Hohokam archaeology—even as it reveals deep love and persistent personal conflicts.
“The book is a marvelous and eminently readable chronicle of an epic period in early southwestern archaeology and the lives (and loves) of those who were participants therein. It should be in the library of everyone interested in the histories of American anthropology and nineteenth-century western America.”—Don Fowler, author of Southwest Archaeology in the Twentieth Century
