Institution: Family Collection; Personal Research Collection
Collection Title: Harvey Leake Wetherill Family Collection
Date (inclusive): n/a
Collection Identifier: n/a
Repository (location info): n/a
Finding Aid link: n/a
Website link: See this video for an overview of Harvey Leake’s Wetherill Family Collection: https://youtu.be/pfncSd24qb8
RBMVE Biographical Note: Harvey Leake, great-grandson of John and Louisa Wetherill, has compiled a massive collection of material and artifacts from his research about his family, who were early settlers in the Mesa Verde area and later in the Northern Navajo Nation area. John and Louisa Wetherill, among other roles, ran the Wetherill & Colville Trading Post in Kayenta, AZ and were instrumental in facilitating the RBMVE. They provided provisions, pack animal and equipment, shared their property as a staging area, hosted guests of the Expedition, and used their connections with the local Navajo and San Juan Paiute community to recruit packers, guides, and translators.
Scope and Content: Harvey Leake’s archive and library reflects the early settlement of the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Leake has contributed mostly digitized material to The ONWARD Project.
Container List or Summary of RBMVE-related Material: Though much of this material is not directly about the RBMVE, there is much contextual material about the social and political environment in which it operated. Notable material includes: Leake’s research materials, a chronological series of material documenting events surrounding the creation of a potential National Park in the Northern Arizona and Southern Utah area, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, copies of articles about the Wetherill family, books, framed art gifted to the Wetherill family, and much more.
Two items from Leake’s collection are shared through the Arizona Memory Project: Wetherill Family Appreciation Gift and a Gift to Milt Wetherill.
Some photographs from Leake’s collection are also included in The ONWARD Project Stories Website. See additional selections below.
