Adolph Bandelier is recognized as a key figure in the fields of ethnography, history, and archaeology, particularly in the American Southwest. He was born in 1840 in Bern, Switzerland, and his family relocated to the United States in 1848. They settled in Highland, Illinois, where Bandelier was initially prepared to join the family banking business. However, a friendship with the renowned anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan sparked his interest in ethnography.
In 1880, at the age of 40, he journeyed to Santa Fe to explore this newfound passion by engaging with various American Indian tribes in the region. At that time, many people did not view the study of American Indians as significant, but a letter of endorsement from John Wesley Powell helped persuade the Archaeological Institute of America to support his research.
In 1882, Bandelier continued his explorations in the Southwest, visiting all the missions linked to the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. He meticulously mapped these sites and captured some of the earliest photographs of the missions. His documentation of their condition and the cultural remnants present has proven to be invaluable for the park.
Bandelier also explored numerous areas that are now designated as National Parks in New Mexico and Arizona, including Pecos, Aztec Ruins, El Morro, El Malpais, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Casa Grande, Tonto, and the pueblo ruins of the Pajarito Plateau, which was later named Bandelier National Monument in his honor. He published a report detailing his findings in the Southwest titled "Final Report of Investigations Among the Indians of the Southwestern United States, Carried on Mainly in the Years from 1880 to 1885."
Bandelier's research extended beyond the United States as he studied cultures in Mexico, Central America, and South America. He passed away in 1914 while working at the Archivo de las Indias in Spain. His remains were buried in Seville, but in 1977, they were exhumed, and his ashes were scattered at Bandelier National Monument in 1980.
