Derived dynamically from EAC-CPF in xEAC.
Reconstruction of the history of the Hyde Exploring Expeditions has been an iterative process. In 1909, the museum launched the Huntington Southwest Survey to develop a timeline of human habitation of the Southwest, building and verifying discoveries by the Hyde Expeditions. In 1916, the museum’s Curator of Ethnology, Pliny Goddard, wrote to Clayton Wetherill to ask for help interpreting his brother’s catalogue references to locate caves and rooms referred to by numbers.
In 1920, the Cartier Expedition led by Nels C. Nelson, Curator of North American Archaeology, accompanied by B.T.B. Hyde, went to Grand Gulch in an attempt to identify the particular cliff-houses and canyons from which the museum’s collection was taken. Annual Report 52 for the year 1920 states: “Completion of the reports of the Hyde explorations on the Pueblo Bonito between 1895 and 1900 has been rendered possible through two years’ special labor of Mr. B. Talbot B. Hyde of this Museum, who was the chief donor, and the active cooperation of Mr. George H. Pepper of the Museum of the American Indian, who was in charge of the excavations.”
The Hyde Exploring Expeditions to Chaco Canyon, New Mexico excavated ancient Anasazi cliff dwelling civilizations and discovered an earlier "Basketmaker" civilization beneath the canyon floor. The expeditions were sponsored by Benjamin Talbot Babbitt (B.T.B.) Hyde and and his younger brother Frederic Erastus Hyde, Jr., were conducted under the auspices of Frederic Putnam, Curator of Anthropology in the American Museum of Natural History. Richard Wetherill was the expedition leader and guide. George Hubbard Pepper was the lead archaeologist. The Hyde expeditions also included ethnological studies by Aleṧ Hrdlička, who set up a laboratory in Pueblo Bonito.
Second expedition, approximately 1897 January to March. Expedition's focus was to continue the work of the first Hyde Expedition, focusing mainly on the Grand Gultch site.
Sponsor of the Cartier expedition
Sponsor of the Cartier expedition
Leader of the Cartier expedition
"B.T.B." Hyde was a sponsor of the expedition and a patron of the American Museum of Natural History. He directly participated in several expeditions to the Southwest and catalogued the collection for the museum until 1920.
Grandson of Babbitt Hyde and heir to his Bab-O soap company fortune. Member of The Explorer’s Club, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History. Funded and participated in expeditions to Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon.
Expedition guide