Amerind Foundation

The Amerind Foundation was established in 1937 by William Shirley Fulton (1880-1964) as a private, nonprofit archaeological research institution, with a mission to foster and promote knowledge and understanding of the Native peoples of the Americas through research, education, and conservation. A native of Connecticut and an industrialist by trade, Fulton had become interested in archaeology as a young man. Trips to the Southwest from his home in Waterbury, Connecticut became more frequent between 1906 and 1917, furthering his fascination with archaeological ruins and with the cultural objects made and used by the Native Americans of the Southwest.

After buying property in Texas Canyon in 1930, Fulton and his wife, Rose Hayden Fulton, built a home there in 1931. Fulton soon began archaeological excavations on his own ranch and his boyhood interest in archaeology soon became his full-time passion. As his knowledge and techniques improved, Fulton's archaeological notes from Texas Canyon were published by the Museum of the American Indian in New York City. With the incorporation of the Amerind, Fulton then hired a professional archaeologist and began to support archaeological research in the Southwest Borderlands and northern Mexico on a major scale. Fulton also believed that archaeological surveys when done should be published contributions to the field.

Fulton believed that interpreting ancient cultures could best be done through the collection and preservation of Native American cultural materials; he also believed that many native traditions were rapidly disappearing under the influence of the modern world.

In the ensuing years, the Amerind has grown into one of the finest private museum collections of ethnographic and archaeological materials in North America, expanding the facilities into the present day museum, research library, Art Gallery, laboratories, workshops, and staff and visiting scholar housing.