Archaeology for the People of Taos

 This is a story of elderly couples who together have found a way to “give something back” to the Taos community in thanks for the rich, full retirement life they have had here.  And it is also the story of an heroic librarian who took action when needed on behalf of her library.

 

It all started in widely separate places, as Jim Grady PhD, archaeologist with many projects in Europe, the middle east and Africa, came under the tutelage of  Florence Hawley Ellis and the spell of southwestern archaeology.  Using his technology skills in remote sensing  and aerial photography, Jim worked and taught for many years in Denver.   When he died several years ago he left a large collection of books, the tools of the trade in archaeology.

 

Meanwhile Shirley Shepherd and her husband George Shepherd PhD, retired from the University of Denver to Taos where Shirley was drawn into the activities of the Taos Archaeological Society as it took up the task of finding and recording petroglyphs in the Taos valley under the direction of Paul Williams, lead archaeologist at the BLM.   In those early years Shirley and her team discovered and documented some 20 different sites and set the stage for further discoveries by later teams.  When Shirley died several years ago George moved to Denver to be near adult children and there met Jim Grady’s widow, Anne Grady.   Anne and George were married last summer and together decided to donate Jim Grady’s extensive archaeological library to Taos in memory of their spouses’ wishes to make the wonders and excitement of archaeology a special part of Taos for everyone.

 

 Now comes the heroic librarian, Dorothy Kethler, who had always had a keen interest in archaeology.  Dorothy realized that transporting an entire library of some 900 volumes from Denver to Taos could be a barrier to making this donation available to Taosenos.  Single handed she obtained a town of Taos truck, drove to the Shepherds’ new home in Golden, Colorado, with Anne and George loaded the heavy cartons and drove them back to safe storage in the Taos library.  Dorothy is now retired from the Taos library and will be very much missed.

 

Some of the volumes are rare and quite valuable, but all are of keen interest to anyone who wants to know more about the unusually rich archaeological heritage of the Taos Valley and the southwest, as well as sites in southern France, Egypt,  Africa including studies about the earliest humans.   The donation also includes a set of replicas of important lithic types to be used for teaching purposes.  The Taos Archaeological Society under the leadership of Caroline Johnson, President and committee chair Susan Guss, has donated choice volumes to the library each year, but George Jaramillo, director of the library, points out that the library currently does not have space for this wonderful collection.  Plans however, are underway for a new addition to the library building which would have an archaeology section, making these books as available to all the people of Taos.