Joe Sando

Joe Simon Sando (Towa: Paa Péh; 1923 — September 13, 2011) was a Jemez Pueblo historian, professor, and writer whose work focused on the history and culture of Jemez Pueblo and the Pueblo peoples in the Southwestern United States. He is known as the first Pueblo historian to write about the Pueblo peoples in Western academia.

Sando was born in Jemez Pueblo as a member of the Sun Clan. At this time, there were no written accounts of the Pueblo peoples by a Pueblo author despite a long tradition of Pueblo oral history since time immemorial. The lack of such accounts inspired him to become the first and leading Pueblo historian of the Pueblo peoples. After Sando served in World War II, the G.I. Bill funded his pursuit of studying the Native American history of New Mexico.

After returning from his studies Vanderbilt University to New Mexico in the 1960s, Sando began a prolific lifelong scholarly career focused on the history of the Pueblo peoples. Sando taught at the University of New Mexico and the Institute of American Indian Arts. He was also historical director for the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, and served on a number of Native American boards, councils, and commissions dedicated to Pueblo and Native issues.

Sando is widely known in New Mexico and among the Pueblo peoples for his scholarship and historical knowledge, with his most famous works are Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History, and Pueblo Profiles: Cultural Identity through Centuries of Change. Sando remains the only historian of the 20th century whose work centered on the Pueblo peoples during that time. He is widely seen as the most famous Pueblo academics of the twentieth century along with the Tewa cultural anthropologist Alfonso Ortiz.

History Early life and education Joe Sando was born in 1923 at Jemez Pueblo. He grew up speaking Towa, also known as the Jemez language, as well as New Mexican Spanish. Sando was initially educated in the San Diego Mission School at Jemez Pueblo. He later attended the Santa Fe Indian School, where he learned English.

Sando joined the United States Navy during World War II. The G.I. Bill funded his studies of Native American history, particularly the Native American history of New Mexico. After the war he attended Eastern New Mexico University and Vanderbilt University. His books about Pueblo culture, government, and history included how Pueblos interacted with the Spanish Empire, Mexico, and the United States, and his 2008 memoir is one of the few written by a Native American author.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Sando was also the director of the Institute of Pueblo Study and Research, the historical archives at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

Personal life Sando was married to Louisa Barry Sando for 61 years. They had a daughter, a son, three granddaughters, and two great-grandsons at the time of his death.

Published works Sando, Joe S. The Pueblo Indians, San Francisco, Calif.: The Indian Historian Press, 1976. Sando, Joe S. Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History, Clear Light Publishers, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1992 Sando, Joe S. Pueblo Profiles: Cultural Identity through Centuries of Change. Clear Light Publishers, 1998. Sando, Joe S. and Herman Agoyo, editors, Po'pay: Leader of the First American Revolution, Clear Light Publishing, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2005 Sando, Joe S. Nee Hemish, a History of Jémez Pueblo, Santa Fe, N.Mex.: Clear Light Publishing, 2008. Sando, Joe S. Pueblo Recollections: The Life of Paa Péh, Santa Fe, N.Mex.: Clear Light Publishing, 2008.