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Wes Cowan, left, and Tukufu Zuberi film an episode of PBS’s “History Detectives” in Santa Fe’s Tin Star Saloon last year. The episode features the book “Life and Adventures of Kit Carson.” (Journal File)
For nearly two weeks last summer Tukufu Zuberi was on a mission in New Mexico: Find out if a book belonged to Kit Carson.
Zuberi and crew filmed the segment for the PBS series “History Detectives.” The series explores our nation’s past by uncovering the captivating history behind personal items that have puzzled their owners for years. It features five hosts, two of whom came out for the shoot in Santa Fe.
Wes Cowan, independent appraiser and auctioneer, and Zuberi, a professor of sociology and founder and past director of the Center for African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, were on hand for the episode.
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On TV “History Detectives” featuring “Kit Carson Family Secrets” will air at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 2 on PBS |
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“I got interested in this case because I thought this was an opportunity to have a great conversation about Kit Carson,” Zuberi says. “The main goal was finding how to introduce this character to an audience. Kit Carson is a major character in the history of the U.S. and he played the role of a person on the frontier who opened up civilization.”
Kit Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. He explored west to California and north through the Rocky Mountains and lived among and married into the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes. During his career, he was hired by John C. Fremont as a guide and led “the Pathfinder” through much of California, Oregon and the Great Basin area and achieved national fame through Fremont’s accounts of his expeditions. He also became the hero of many dime novels.
But there is a flip side to Carson. He is vilified for his conquest of the Navajo and their forced transfer to Bosque Redondo, where many of them died. Breveted a general, he is probably the only American to reach such a high military rank without being able to read or write, although he could sign his name.
Filming took place mostly in Santa Fe and Taos and the two detectives also got a chance to chat with Carson’s great-grandson, John Carson.
In the episode, “Kit Carson Family Secrets,” which airs Tuesday, April 2, on PBS, the detectives are called in to help out with the validity of a book.
Zuberi says Charles Burns of Bakersfield, Calif., had reason to believe his antique biography of legendary frontiersman Carson may be more than just a life story, but may also hold a tangible connection to Carson’s family.
He says Burns purchased this leather-bound edition of “Life and Adventures of Kit Carson” at the estate sale of a Wild West book collector. And while leafing through the book, Burns was amazed to find a page near the center with names of Kit Carson’s family written in what appears to be quill pen and ink.
Hence, Zuberi takes on the challenge to find out whether this book once belonged to the Kit Carson family.
“It’s a piece of American history and it’s important,” he says. “Carson is more than a frontiersman. His life was so much more complicated than what we know. We also wanted to find out if this was a great piece of American history.”
As with many episodes, Zuberi brings in experts on the subjects.
In this episode, Carson’s great-grandson was brought in, as was New Mexico historian and Kit Carson buff David Remley.
Remley says he was asked to go to Santa Fe to talk about the book. He’s an expert on Carson and wrote the most recent biography on Carson in 2011, which is titled “Kit Carson: The Life of an American Border Man.”
After arriving in Santa Fe, Remley was asked to look at the book and the writing that was found inside.
“I told them that it couldn’t have been Kit Carson or his wife’s handwriting,” he explains. “Both of them were illiterate and had all of their letters transcribed for them. I knew it couldn’t have been the couple’s writing, but the book could have belonged to the family.”
Remley says he hasn’t seen the episode and will be watching like many Americans when it airs.
“I’m excited to see how it all turned out,” he says. “Kit Carson is a complicated man and I was trying to help them find out if the book was legitimate.”
A N.M. GREAT: The documentary film about environmentalist Aldo Leopold, “Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time,” will air at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4, and at 5 p.m. Friday, April 7, on PBS.
The film explores Leopold’s life in the early part of the 20th century and the many ways his land ethic idea continues to be applied all over the world today. In partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, there also will be a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Weeks Act – the law that led to the creation of many of our eastern national forests, and sparked the long-term effort to replant and restore forests that still continues today.
SEND ME YOUR TIPS: If you know of a movie filming in the state, or are curious about one, email film@ABQjournal.com. Follow me on Twitter @agomezART.
