Frank Waters (July 25, 1902 – June 3, 1995) was an American writer. He is known for his novels and historical works about 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, N ...
. The Frank Waters Foundation, founded in his name, strives to foster literary and artistic achievement in the Southwest United States.
Biography
Frank Waters was born on July 25, 1902, in
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
to May Ione Dozier Waters and Frank Jonathon Waters. His father, who was part
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
, was a key influence in Water's interest in the
Native American experience. Frank Jonathon Waters took his son on trips to the
Navajo Reservation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...
in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
in 1911, described by Frank in his book ''The Colorado''. Frank's interest in his Indian roots was partially a reaction to his father's death on December 20, 1914, when young Frank was twelve years old.
Waters continued his education at
Colorado College
Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...
in Colorado Springs. He studied engineering but left school before receiving a degree. Immediately after leaving college, Waters took a job with the Southern California Telephone Company, working in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. He remained employed by the company until 1935 as an engineer and traffic chief. Between 1925 and 1935, Waters worked on his first novel, ''Fever Pitch'' (1930) and a series of autobiographical novels beginning with ''The Wild Earth's Nobility'' (1935). In 1936, Waters left L.A. and moved back and forth between Colorado and New Mexico, continuing to write and completing a biography of W. S. Stratton, ''Midas of the Rockies''. He became close friends with
Mabel Dodge Luhan
Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan (pronounced ''LOO-hahn''; née Ganson; February 26, 1879 – August 13, 1962) was a wealthy American patron of the arts, who was particularly associated with the Taos art colony.
Early life
Mabel Ganson was the heir ...
and her husband from
Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest c ...
, Tony Luhan.
When
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out, Waters moved to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
to work for the
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, later known as the Office for Inter-American Affairs, was a United States agency promoting inter-American cooperation (Pan-Americanism) during the 1940s, especially in commercial and econ ...
. There, he performed the duties of a propaganda analyst and chief content officer and, although he was released from the army in 1943, he continued to work for the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. Waters' masterpiece, ''The Man Who Killed the Deer'', was published in 1942.
While living in D.C. in 1944, Waters married Lois Moseley, whom he divorced two years later. After his divorce, Waters moved to
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...
, where he continued to write. In 1947, Waters purchased property at nearby Arroyo Seco, New Mexico, and married Jane Somervell. He served as editor-in-chief of Taos' bilingual newspaper, ''
El Crepusculo'' from 1949–1951, and as a reviewer for the ''
Saturday Review of Literature
''Saturday Review'', previously ''The Saturday Review of Literature'', was an American weekly magazine established in 1924. Norman Cousins was the editor from 1940 to 1971. Under Norman Cousins, it was described as "a compendium of reportage, ess ...
'' from 1950-1956.
In 1953, Waters was awarded the Taos Artists Award for Notable Achievement in the Art of Writing. Waters also held positions as information consultant for
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in ...
, New Mexico, and for the City of Las Vegas, Nevada, (1952–1956). He held a variety of other jobs, including writer for C.O. Whitney Motion Picture Co., Los Angeles (1957), writer-in-residence at
Colorado State University
Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
,
Fort Collins
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
(1966); and director, New Mexico Arts Commission, Santa Fe, New Mexico, (1966–68).
[The Frank Waters Foundation]
/ref>
On December 23, 1979, Waters married Barbara Hayes. He continued to write and make public appearances. He and his wife lived alternately in Arroyo Seco and Sedona, Arizona. Frank Waters died at his home in Arroyo Seco on June 3, 1995.[
From the 1930s on, Waters published numerous novels, articles and works of non-fiction. For instance, in 1975, he wrote ''Mexico Mystique: The Coming Sixth World of Consciousness''. In the book, he makes the case that December 24, 2011, a date he got from ]Michael Coe
Michael Douglas Coe (May 14, 1929 – September 25, 2019) was an American archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher, and author. He is known for his research on pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya, and was among the foremost Mayan ...
's ''The Maya'' (1966), will be the closing date of the Mayan Long Count cycle and would initiate a new wave of human consciousness.
His earlier ''Book of the Hopi'' (1963) is written from the perspective of an inner participant in the religious and symbolic dimension of Hopi life. Its contents were relayed to Waters by Hopi Indians, often through a translator/friend called White Bear. There is controversy about the book among scholars. Much of what it says is not scientific, or verifiable. Its value may lay chiefly in the access to the collective unconscious as it is experienced by a person fully immersed in, and shaped by, the Hopi culture. This book has been controversial in recent years. Its authenticity is questioned by some. This may be a reaction to its having been so influential. It is one of the seminal books which introduce the Native American perspective and ethos to mainstream society. It was a counterculture classic and during the sixties and seventies it was a staple on college campuses.
Frank Waters Foundation
The Frank Waters Foundation, established in 1993, is a nonprofit organization the primary goal of which is to promote the arts, specifically those in the spirit of the creativity of Frank Waters. The members of the foundation operate under the motto "Sheltering the creative spirit", by providing residencies for artists, musicians, and writers to work for short periods of time. The foundation also holds workshops, readings, and exhibits, in addition to publishing.
The Frank Waters Foundation is supported financially by workshops, lectures, art shows, musical events, fundraisers, and sales of various items including books and bronze sculptures of Frank Waters and by income generated by the works of Frank Waters.
Works
Novels
Novels written by Waters include:
*''Fever Pitch'' (1930), reprinted as ''Lizard Woman''
*''The Wild Earth's Nobility'' (1935)
*''Below Grass Roots'' (1937)
*''Dust Within the Rock'' (1940)
*''People of the Valley'' (1941)
*''The Man Who Killed the Deer'' (1942)
*''River Lady
''River Lady'' is a 1948 American lumberjack Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Yvonne De Carlo and Dan Duryea. It was filmed on the Universal Studios Backlot.
Plot
In the 1870s, in a logging town on the Mississippi River, a c ...
'' (1942, w/Houston Branch)
*''The Yogi of Cockroach Court'' (1947)
*''Diamond Head'' (1948 w/Houston Branch)
*''The Woman at Otowi Crossing'' (1965)
*''Pike’s Peak'' (1972), revision and condensation of ''The Wild Earth's Nobility'', ''Below Grass Roots'', and ''Dust Within the Rock''.
*''Flight from Fiesta'' (1986)
Other published works
Other published works, essays, non-fiction, and esoteric writings by Waters include:
*''Midas of the Rockies'' (1937)
*''The Colorado'' (1946)
*''Masked Gods: Navajo and Pueblo Ceremonialism'' (1950)
*''The Earp Brothers of Tombstone: the Story of Mrs. Virgil Earp'' (1960)
*''Book of The Hopi'' (1963)
*''Robert Gilruth'' (1963)
*''Leon Gaspard'' (1964)
*''Pumpkin Seed Point'' (1969)
*''To Possess the Land: A Biography of Arthur Rochford Manby'' (1973)
*''Mexico Mystique: The Coming Sixth World of Consciousness'' (1975)
*''Mountain Dialogues'' (1981)
*''Brave Are My People: Indian Heroes Not Forgotten'' (1993)
*''Of Time and Change: a Memoir'' (1998)
Notes
Further reading
*Adams, Charles. "Frank Waters" in Western Literature Association (ed.), ''Updating the Literary West'', pp. 854–862. TCU Press, 1997.
*Barclay, Donald A. "Frank (Joseph) Waters." ''Twentieth-Century American Western Writers: Second Series''. Ed. Richard H. Cracroft. ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' Vol. 212. Detroit: Gale, 1999. . .
*Cline, Lynn. ''Literary Pilgrims: The Santa Fe and Taos Writers' Colonies, 1917-1950'', ch. 11. University of New Mexico Press, 2007.
*Deloria, Vine. ''Frank Waters: Man and Mystic''. Swallow Press, 1993.
*Dunaway, David King; Spurgeon, Sara L. ''Writing the Southwest'', pp. 218–232. University of New Mexico Press, 2003.
*Lyon, Thomas J. ''Frank Waters'' (Volume 225 of Twayne's United States authors series). Twayne, 1973.
*Rogers, Gary Wade. ''Frank Waters: Author of Vision in the American Tradition of Emerson, Melville, and Faulkner''. Texas Christian University, 1993.
*Waters, Barbara. ''Celebrating the Coyote: A Memoir''. Divina, 1999.
;Interviews
*Evers, Larry, ed. "A Conversation with Frank Waters" in ''Sun Tracks Five'' (University of Arizona, Tucson), 1980, pp. 61–68.
*Gustafon, Robert. "A Conversation with Frank Waters on American Indian Religion" in ''Pembroke Magazine'' (N.C.), 1974, No. 5, pp. 78–89.
*Peterson, James. "A Conversation with Frank Waters: Lessons from the Indian Soul" in ''Psychology Today
''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. It began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The ''Psychology Today'' website features therapy and health professionals direct ...
'', 1973, Vol. 6, No. 12, pp. 63–99 passim.
*Tarbet, Tom. "The Hopi Prophecy and the Chinese Dream: An Interview with Frank Waters" in ''East West Journal'' (Brookline, Mass.), 1977, Vol. 7, No. 5, pp. 52–60, 62, 64.
*Taylor, James. "An Interview with Frank Waters" in ''Black Bear Review'' (Taos, NM), 1973, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1–5.
External links
*
Inventory of the Frank Waters Papers, 1892-1992
University of New Mexico, University Libraries, Center for Southwest Research
* Tal Luther Collection of Frank Waters Printed Materials and Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Articles in ''Western American Literature''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Frank
1902 births
1995 deaths
Writers from Colorado Springs, Colorado
Writers from Taos, New Mexico
20th-century American novelists
American male novelists
Colorado College alumni
Novelists from Colorado
Novelists from New Mexico
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers