|
Trading in Santa Fe John M. Kingsbury's Correspondence with James Josiah Webb, 1853–1861 Edited by Jane Lenz Elder and David J. Weber Preface by Stanley Marcus |
In 1853 the fabled Santa Fe trade drew a young Bostonian named John Kingsbury to the dusty capital of America's newly acquired New Mexico Territory. Junior partner of the prominent mercantile firm of Webb & Kingsbury, he remained in Santa Fe until 1861 and the outbreak of the Civil War.
During his eight-year tenure, Kingsbury sent regular reports to his business partner in Connecticut, James Josiah Webb.
The volume and value of the goods shipped over the Trail reached new heights during the 1850s, and yet, until now, those years have yielded scant information about the commerce of the prairies. Kingsbury's letters shed new light on this neglected period, revealing much about the operations of rival firms and the business climate of the Southwestern frontier in general. As he placed orders and charted cash flows, Kingsbury sent Webb colorful gossip about New Mexico politics and politicians. From his occasional digressions, intimate details about social and cultural life in Santa Fe emerge, as does the personality of the letter-writer himself.
For aficionados of New Mexico's history and Santa Fe Trail enthusiasts, Kingsbury's letters to Webb contain a wealth of first-hand glimpses into the social and economic conditions of a Mexican town, deep in Indian-controlled territory recently conquered by the United States in the war with Mexico.
Trading in Santa Fe makes Kingsbury's richly detailed letters to Webb available in print for the first time.
The editors' introduction to the volume, chapter introductions, and extensive notes provide valuable background, permitting the reader to fit the letters into the contemporary scene.
JANE LENZ ELDER, a research assistant at Southern Methodist University, is the author of many articles and exhibit catalogs, including The Literature of Beguilement: Promoting Hispanic North America from Columbus to Today. She is currently working on a history of Texas' Interstate Theater Circuit.
DAVID J. WEBER is the Robert and Nancy Dedman Professor of History and director of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. A past president of the Western History Association, he is the author of numerous prize-winning books and articles, including The Spanish Frontier in North America, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Number Five: DeGolyer Library Series
"Trading in Santa Fe will become a cornerstone for all future studies of the Santa Fe trade."—Mark L. Gardner"A superb manuscript. I am exceedingly enthusiastic [about Trading in Santa Fe] and with great pleasure I extend it my strongest recommendation. The editors. . . have 'delivered the goods'!"—Marc Simmons
Trading in Santa Fe
0-87074-389-9 cloth $40.00s
0-87074-390-2 paper $19.95
LC 95-43120. 8 1/2 x 11. 368 pp. 8 b&w photos. 2 maps. Bib. Index.
Western History. Business History. Economics.
Publication Date: April 1996.
Terms of order and other ways to order