Oliver La Farge

Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge (December 19, 1901 – August 2, 1963) was an American writer and anthropologist. In 1925 he explored early Olmec sites in Mexico, and later studied additional sites in Central America and the American Southwest. In addition to more than 15 scholarly works, mostly on Native Americans, he wrote several novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Laughing Boy (1929). In addition, La Farge's short stories were published in The New Yorker and Esquire magazines. His more notable works, both fiction and non-fiction, focus on Native American culture. He spent much of his adult life championing American Indian rights. He was president of the Association on American Indian Affairs for several years.

Early life and education

Oliver La Farge was born in New York City but grew up in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the son of Christopher Grant La Farge, a noted Beaux-Arts architect, and Florence Bayard Lockwood. La Farge and his paternal uncle, architect Oliver H.P. La Farge, were both named for a great-great-grandfather, Oliver Hazard Perry.

La Farge received both his Bachelor of Arts degree (1924) and his master's degree (1929) from Harvard University.

Career

La Farge worked as a writer and an anthropologist. In 1925, he traveled with the Danish archeologist Frans Blom, who taught at Tulane University, to what is now known as the Olmec heartland. He (re)discovered San Martin Pajapan Monument 1 and, more importantly, the ruins of La Venta, one of the major Olmec centers.. While on scientific expeditions to Central America and the American Southwest, La Farge discovered two previously unknown languages: .

During World War II, he served with the U.S. Air Transport Command, leaving the service with the rank of major. He participated in the Battle for Greenland, commanded by Colonel Bernt Balchen. Balchen, together with Corey Ford and La Farge, wrote War Below Zero: The Battle for Greenland (1944) about the actions to defend Greenland.

La Forge devoted considerable study to Native American peoples and issues, especially after moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1933. He became a champion for American Indian rights and was president of the Association on American Indian Affairs for several years.

Marriage and family

La Farge married heiress Wanden Matthews and had two children with her: a son, Oliver Albee La Farge (b. 1931), and a daughter, Povy. They moved to Santa Fe in 1933, but Wanden disliked the area and they eventually divorced in 1937. Their son Oliver Albee became estranged from his father and changed his name to Peter La Farge. He moved to New York City, where he became a folksinger in Greenwich Village, performing in the 1950s and 1960s.

La Farge married a second time, to Consuelo Otile Baca, with whom he had a son, John Pendaries "Pen" La Farge. La Farge's non-fiction book, Behind the Mountains (1956), is based on his memories of Consuelo's family, Baca family of New Mexico who were ranchers in northern New Mexico. He wrote a regular column for the Santa Fe newspaper, The New Mexican. Some of his columns were collected and published as The Man With the Calabash Pipe (1966).

La Farge died in Santa Fe in 1963, at the age of 61.

Legacy and honors

• Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Laughing Boy (1929)

Works

Non-fiction

• Tribes and Temples (with Frans Blom) 1926-27
• The Year Bearer's People (with Douglas Byers) 1931
• Introduction to American Indian Art (with John Sloan) 1931
• Long Pennant, 1933
• An Alphabet for Writing the Navajo Language, 1940
• The Changing Indian (editor) 1942
• The Copper Pot, 1942
• War Below Zero: The Battle for Greenland (Colonel Bernt Balchen, with Major Corey Ford), 1944
• Santa Eulalia: The Religion of a Cuchumatan Indian Town (1947)
• The Eagle in the Egg, 1949
• Cochise of Arizona, 1953
• The Mother Ditch, 1954
• A Pictorial History of the American Indian (1956)
• Behind the Mountains (1956)
• Santa Fe: The Autobiography of a Southwestern Town (with Arthur N. Morgan) 1959
• The Door in the Wall, 1965

Fiction and personal

• Laughing Boy (1929), novel; it was adapted for the 1934 motion picture of the same name.
• Sparks Fly Upward (1931), novel.
• All the Young Men (1935), collection of short stories.
• The Enemy Gods (1937), novel.
• Raw Material (1945), a memoir.
• A Pause in the Desert (1957), collection of short stories.
• The Man With the Calabash Pipe (collected columns, edited by Winfield Townley Scott), 1966

External links

• An Inventory of the Oliver La Farge Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas
• Excerpts from Tribes and Temples at Mesoweb.
• Oliver La Farge at Find a Grave
• A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Oliver La Farge is available at the Internet Archive