Charles Fletcher Lummis (March 1, 1859, in
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
– November 25, 1928, in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
) was a United States
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
, and an
activist for Indian rights and historic preservation. A traveler in the
American Southwest
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...
, he settled in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, where he also became known as an historian, photographer, ethnographer, archaeologist, poet, and librarian. Lummis founded the
Southwest Museum of the American Indian
The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) canyon and stream. The muse ...
.
Early life and career
Charles Fletcher Lummis was born in 1859, in
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
. He lost his mother at age 2 and was
homeschool
Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...
ed by his father, who was a schoolmaster. Lummis enrolled in
Harvard for college and was a classmate of
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
's, but dropped out during his senior year. While at Harvard he worked during the summer as a printer and published his first work, ''Birch Bark Poems.'' This small volume was printed on paper-thin sheets of birch bark; he won acclaim from ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
'' magazine and recognition from some of the day's leading poets. He sold the books by subscription and used the money to pay for college. A poem from this work, "My Cigarette", highlighted
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
as one of his life's obsessions.
In 1880, at the age of 21, Lummis married
Dorothea Rhodes of
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...
.
Transcontinental walk
In 1884, Lummis was working for a newspaper in Cincinnati and was offered a job with the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''. At that time,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
had a population of only 12,000. Lummis decided to make the 3,507-mile journey from Cincinnati to Los Angeles on foot, taking 143 days, all the while sending weekly dispatches to the paper chronicling his trip. One of his dispatches chronicled his meeting and interview with famed outlaw
Frank James
Alexander Franklin James (January 10, 1843 – February 18, 1915) was a Confederate soldier and guerrilla; in the post-Civil War period, he was an outlaw. The older brother of outlaw Jesse James, Frank was also part of the James–Younger ...
. The trip began in September and lasted through the winter. Lummis suffered a broken arm and struggled in the heavy winter snows of New Mexico. He became enamored with the
American Southwest
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...
, and its Spanish and
Native American inhabitants. Several years later, he published his account of this journey in ''A Tramp Across the Continent'' (1892).
Editor at the ''Los Angeles Times''
Upon his arrival, Lummis was offered the job of the first City Editor of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''. He covered a multitude of interesting stories from the new and growing community. Work was hard and demanding under the pace set by publisher
Harrison Gray Otis. Lummis was happy until he suffered from a mild
stroke that left his left side paralyzed.
New Mexico
In 1888, Lummis moved to
San Mateo, New Mexico
San Mateo is a census-designated place in Cibola County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 161 at the 2010 census.
The community has a Catholic church, a Baptist church, a Morada, a cemetery, and an old abandoned elementary school. I ...
to recuperate from his
paralysis. He rode on the Plains while holding a rifle in one good hand and shooting
jack rabbit
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...
s. Here, he began a new career as a prolific freelance writer, writing on everything that was particularly special about the Southwest and Indian cultures. His articles about corrupt bosses committing murders in San Mateo drew threats on his life, so he moved to a new location in the
Pueblo Indian
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zu ...
village of
Isleta, New Mexico
Isleta Village Proper is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 491 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
Isleta Village Proper is ...
, on the
Rio Grande.
Pueblo People of Isleta
Somewhat recovered from his paralysis, Lummis was able to win over the confidence of the
Isleta Pueblo
Pueblo of Isleta ( tix, Shiewhibak , kjq, Dîiw'a'ane ; nv, Naatoohó ) is an unincorporated community and Tanoan pueblo in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, originally established in the . The Southern Tiwa name of the pueblo ...
, a Tiwa people, by his outgoing and generous nature. But a hit man from San Mateo was sent up to
Isleta
Pueblo of Isleta ( tix, Shiewhibak , kjq, Dîiw'a'ane ; nv, Naatoohó ) is an unincorporated community and Tanoan pueblo in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, originally established in the . The Southern Tiwa name of the pueblo ...
, where he shot Lummis but failed to kill him.
In Isleta, Lummis divorced his first wife and married Eva Douglas, who lived in the village and was the sister-in-law of an English trader. Somehow he convinced Eva to stay with Dorothea in Los Angeles until the divorce went through. In the meantime, Lummis became entangled in fights with the U.S. government agents over Indian education. In this period, the government was pushing assimilation and had established Indian boarding schools. It charged its agents with recruiting Native American children for the schools, where they were usually forced to give up traditional clothing and hair styles, and prevented from speaking their own languages or using their own customs. They were often prohibited from returning home during holidays or vacation periods, or their families were too poor to afford such travel. Lummis persuaded the government to allow 36 children from the Albuquerque Indian School to return to their homes.
While in Isleta, he made friends with Father
Anton Docher
Anton Docher (1852–1928), born Antonin Jean Baptiste Docher (pronounced ɑ̃tɔnɛ̃ ʒɑ̃ batist dɔʃe), was a French Franciscan Roman Catholic priest, who served as a missionary to Native Americans in New Mexico, in the Southwest of t ...
from France; he was the missionary Padre of Isleta. They both also befriended
Adolph Bandelier
Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier (August 6, 1840March 18, 1914) was a Swiss-born American archaeologist who particularly explored the indigenous cultures of the American Southwest, Mexico, and South America. He immigrated to the United States wi ...
. While living in Isleta, Lummis boarded in the home of
Juan Rey Abeita
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
. In 1890, he traveled with Bandelier to study the indigenous people of the area.
Preservationist
As president of the Landmarks Club of Southern California (an all-volunteer, privately funded group dedicated to the preservation of
California's Spanish missions), Lummis noted that the historic structures "...were falling to ruin with frightful rapidity, their roofs being breached or gone, the adobe walls melting under the winter rains." Lummis wrote in 1895, "In ten years from now—unless our intelligence shall awaken at once—"there will remain of these noble piles nothing but a few indeterminable heaps of adobe. We shall deserve and shall have the contempt of all thoughtful people if we suffer our noble missions to fall."
Magazine editor
In 1892, Lummis published ''Some Strange Corners of Our Country,'' recounting some of the areas and sights he had discovered. Between 1893 and 1894, he spent 10 months traveling in
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
with Bandelier.
After the men's return, Lummis and Eva returned to Los Angeles with their year-old daughter, Turbese. Unemployed, Lummis landed the position of editor of a regional magazine, ''Land of Sunshine''. The magazine was renamed ''
Out West'' in 1901. He published works by famous authors such as
Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
and
John Muir
John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist ...
. Over his 11 years as editor, Lummis also wrote more than 500 pieces for the magazine, as well as a popular monthly commentary called "In the Lion's Den".
Indian rights activist
Lummis also established a new Indian rights group called the "Sequoya League", after the noted early 19th-century
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
leader
Sequoyah who developed a writing system for the
Cherokee language. Lummis fought against the U.S.
Bureau of Indian Affairs and called on his classmate President
Teddy Roosevelt to help change their manner of operating. He found a home for a small group of Indians who had been evicted from their property in the
Palm Springs, California area. The Sequoya League began a battle against Indian Agent Charles Burton, accusing him of imposing a "reign of terror" on the
Hopi pueblo in Oraibi by requiring Hopi men to cut their long hair. It was their custom to wear it long, a practice with spiritual meaning. Lummis was accused of overstating the case against Burton and lost his welcome at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
. (However, subsequent social pressure on Burton led him to reverse the haircutting policy.)
Later life
In 1905, Lummis took the position as City Librarian of the
Los Angeles Public Library
The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the large ...
. Lummis replaced
Mary Jones as City Librarian even though he had no prior library training. He was criticized for the way he ran the library and insisted on doing most of the work at home. He resigned from that sole source of income in 1911, and worked to establish the
Southwest Museum while engaged in a bitter and public divorce with his wife Eva.
In that year Lummis went blind, which he attributed to a "jungle fever" contracted while in
Guatemala exploring the Mayan ruins of
Quiriguá
Quiriguá () is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the department of Izabal in south-eastern Guatemala. It is a medium-sized site covering approximately along the lower Motagua River, with the ceremonial center about from the north bank ...
. After more than a year of blindness, during which he might appear in public with his eyes covered by a bandanna or wearing dark amber glasses, he regained his sight. Some privately doubted Lummis actually went blind. Among them was
John Muir
John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist ...
, who said so in a letter to him and encouraged him to get more rest.
In 1915, Lummis married his third wife, Gertrude, at
''El Alisal''.
By 1918, he was destitute. In 1923, the Southwest Museum Board named him founder ''emeritus'' and gave him a small stipend. In 1925, Lummis also decided to enlarge, revise, and republish ''Some Strange Corners of Our Country'' as ''Mesa, Canyon and Pueblo''. He also engaged in a renewed civil rights crusade on behalf of the Pueblo Indians.
Death
Lummis died November 25, 1928. He was cremated, and his ashes were placed in a vault in a wall at El Alisal.
Supporters bought his home El Alisal, which was until 2015 used as the headquarters of the Historical Society of Southern California.
Legacy and honors
Lummis' cultural influence remains today, including a lasting imprint on the
Mount Washington
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...
neighborhood of Los Angeles. The home he built, The Lummis House, and the museum he founded, The Southwest Museum, are located within 0.7 miles of each other and remain open to the public for limited hours on weekends.
''El Alisal'' (Lummis House)
Lummis purchased a 3-acre plot around 1895 and spent 13 years building what would become a 4,000-square-foot stone home with an exhibition hall, calling it
''El Alisal''. He frequently entertained, with parties he called "noises" for various writers, artists, and other prominent figures. The parties usually included a lavish Spanish dinner with dancing and music performed by his own private
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...
. The extravaganzas wore out a number of female assistants or "secretaries" conscripted into working on them.
The Lummis House was donated to the Southwest Museum in 1910 and then sold in 1943 to the state of California, which transferred it to the city in 1971. The Historical Society of Southern California took occupancy in 1965, using it as headquarters and helping manage the property, eventually leaving in 2014. Open to the public as a museum and park on Saturdays and Sundays, the site also serves as a focus for Lummis Day activities (see below).
Southwest Museum
By 1907, Lummis had founded the
Southwest Museum of Los Angeles, California. He had led the fundraising campaign to build a new structure for it and saw the building open in August 1914.
The Southwest Museum operated independently until 2003, when it was merged into the
Autry Museum of the American West
The Autry Museum of the American West is a museum in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to exploring an inclusive history of the American West. Founded in 1988, the museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and public programs, including le ...
. The Autry launched a multi-year conservation project to preserve the enormous collection amassed by Lummis and his successors. Much of the material was moved off-site, but The Southwest Museum has maintained an ongoing public exhibit on
Pueblo pottery
Pueblo pottery are ceramic objects made by the indigenous Pueblo people and their antecedents, the Ancestral Puebloans and Mogollon cultures in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.
For centuries, pottery has been central to pueb ...
that is free of charge and open on Saturdays only.
Lummis Day Festival
Beginning in 2006, the annual
Lummis Day Festival was established by the Lummis Day Community Foundation. It holds the festival in Lummis' honor on the first Sunday in June, drawing people to ''El Alisal'' and Heritage Square Museum for poetry readings, art exhibits, music, dance performances, and family activities. The foundation is a non-profit organization of community activists and arts organization leaders.
Publications
* ''A New Mexico David and Other Stories & Sketches of The Southwest''. Scribner's. 1891
* ''Some strange corners of our country: the wonderland of the Southwest''. 1892
''A Tramp Across The Continent'' (1892)* ''My Friend Will''. 1894
* ''The Gold Fish of Gran Chimu: A Novel''. Lamson, Wolffe. 1896
* ''The Enchanted Burro: Stories of New Mexico & South America''. 1897
* ''The awakening of a nation: Mexico of to-day''. 1898
* ''The King Of The Broncos and Other Stories of New Mexico''. Scribner's. 1915
''The Spanish Pioneers And The California Missions'' (1936)Full book online at
The Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
. 1920
* ''The Prose of It'' (poem on Geronimo). c. 1926
* ''A Bronco Pegasus: Poems''. Houghton Mifflin. 1928
''Flowers Of Our Lost Romance'' (1909)Full book online at
The Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
Houghton Mifflin. 1929
* ''New Mexican Folk Songs''. UNM Press. 1952
* ''General Crook and the Apache Wars''. 1966
* ''Bullying The Moqui''. 1968
* ''Dateline Fort Bowie: Charles Fletcher Lummis Reports on an Apache War''. 1979
* ''A Tramp Across the Continent''. University of Nebraska Press. 1982.
* ''Letters From The Southwest: September 20, 1884 to March 14, 1885''. 1989
* ''Mesa, Cañon and Pueblo''. University Press of the Pacific. 2004.
* ''Pueblo Indian Folk-Stories''. Forgotten Books. 2008.
* ''The Land of Poco Tiempo''. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1897.
* ''The Man Who Married the Moon and Other Pueblo Indian Folk Tales''. (1891)
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
* 208 p. (Devotes chapter XIV "Chas" to Lummis) Historical novel.
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* (devotes chapter 4 "The Showman with the Shining Right Hand" to Lummis)
*
External links
*
* Official website
* Official website
* Official site
Archival collections
*
*
*
"Guide to the Charles Lummis Photographs" Special Collections, The Claremont Colleges Library, Claremont, California.
Other
*
*
*
Mark Thompson, author of ''American Character'', a biography of Charles Fletcher LummisCharles Fletcher Lummis Manuscript Collection at the Autry National Center"Charles F. Lummis"by Robert E. Fleming in th
Western Writers Series Digital Editionsat Boise State University
– L.A. as Subject/KCET
*
* "Sunday's Lummis Fest Recalls Infancy of Los Angeles Cultural Venues" Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lummis, Charles Fletcher
American explorers
American librarians
Arts and Crafts architects
Indigenous rights activists
Historians of Native Americans
1859 births
1928 deaths
Activists from California
Architects from Los Angeles
Artists from Los Angeles
Journalists from California
Los Angeles Times people
Photographers from California
Writers from Los Angeles
Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County)
American Craftsman architecture in California
Arts and Crafts movement
19th century in Los Angeles
19th-century American architects
20th-century American architects
19th-century American historians
19th-century American male writers
20th-century American historians
19th-century American photographers
20th-century American photographers
American male non-fiction writers
Historians from California
People from Lynn, Massachusetts
People from Mount Washington, Los Angeles