Archaeologist Watson Smith was affiliated with MNA for five decades, beginning in the 1930s when he was a crew member of the Rainbow Bridge/Monument Valley Expedition sponsored by the National Park Service. MNA assistant director Lyndon Hargrave was the archeologist for the project.
“Wat” was also involved with the first excavation of Awatovi Pueblo near the Hopi mesas in the 1930s to which the Colton’s and Katharine Bartlett visited. Wat became an MNA Research Associate and was also a long-time member of the Board of Trustees. He was chosen as MNA Trustee of the Year in 1977. His extensive collection of southwestern archaeology research including film reels, sound recording, photographs, and field notes are part of the MNA archives.
Beals, Ralph L., George W. Brainerd, and Watson Smith. Archaeological studies in northeast Arizona: a report on the archaeological work of the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley expedition. University of California Berkeley, Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 44, no. 1, 1945.
Montgomery, Ross G., Watson Smith, and John O. Brew. Franciscan Awatovi: the excavation and conjectural reconstruction of a 17th century Spanish mission establishment at a Hopi Indian town in northeastern Arizona. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 36, 1949.
Smith, Watson. Excavations in Big Hawk Valley, Wupatki National Monument, Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 24, 1952.
—. Kiva mural decorations at Awatovi and Kawaika-a. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 37, 1952.
—. Painted ceramics of the western mound at Awatovi. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 38, 1971.
—. The story of the Museum of Northern Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona, 1969.
Smith, Watson and James C. Gifford. Gray corrugated pottery from Awatovi and other Jeddito sites in northeastern Arizona. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 69, 1978.
Smith, Watson and John M. Roberts. “Some aspects of Zuni law and legal procedure.” Plateau, vol. 27, no. 1, 1954.