Bandelier Historic Structure Report: CCC Buildings

A number of people helped us prepare this document. We thank Superintendents John Hunter and Jose Cisneros and the staff of Bandelier National Monument for their assistance during the research phases and their patience during the building investigations and construction phases. Virginia Robicheau helped us sift through the Bandelier photo archives and provided technical assistance throughout the project. Chris Judson copied a number of the historic photographs for our research. Bill Sweetland assisted us in figuring out the probable content of the elusive Pojuaque mud mortar and may have even discovered the borrow pit it came from. David Paulisson helped us keep track of project expenditures. The late Mrs. Evelyn Frey, who lived in the canyon for nearly six decades, furnished considerable information on the buildings from the time of their construction to the present. Architect Jared Morse gave us a sense of what Bandelier was like in the 1930s.

Alison Kerr, archivist at the J. Robert Oppenheimer Library of Los Alamos Laboratory, was indispensable in providing documentation for the 1940s uses of Frijoles Canyon Lodge. Dr. and Mrs. Richard Taschek of Los Alamos furnished insight into life in the canyon during the summer of 1943, at the early stages of the Manhattan Engineer District project. Hedy Dunn and Linda Aldridge at the Los Alamos Historical Society gave free access to the information they had in their files. Edie Ramie of the Denver Service Center (DSC) and Mary Greenwalt and Marsha Druker of the Rocky Mountain Regional Office assisted us in getting information out of old federal filing systems. Sherry Smith-Gonzalez of the New Mexico Archives and Records Center helped out with a series of good research leads. Thanks to Jay Bright and George Thorson of the DSC for approving the project. Particular thanks go to Melody Webb, former regional historian for the Southwest Region, for her constant support and constructive criticism.

Undoubtedly, we owe our greatest debt to retired National Park Service (NPS) architect Lyle E. Bennett (deceased) and to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) forestry foreman Jim Fulton. Their enormous contributions to the study made the past come alive. More important, their hard work in the 1930s left us with an enduring landmark of the New Deal.

Laura Soullière Harrison
Architectural Historian

Randall Copeland
Historical Architect

Roger Buck
Landscape Architect