Waters, Frank, 1902-1995

Frank Waters, writer and editor, was born July 25, 1902, at the foot of Pike's Peak, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His father, who was part Cherokee died when Frank was 12 years old. It was his father who initially sparked Frank's interest in Indian culture. Waters attended Colorado College (Colorado Springs) from 1922-25 as an engineering student. He dropped out after his third year to take a job as a laborer in the Salt Creek, Wyoming oil fields. He later worked as an engineer for the Southern California Telephone Company on the Mexican border. Waters moved back to Colorado in 1935 to work on the second two volumes of his Colorado mining trilogy. He moved to New Mexico's Mora Valley in 1937, and relocated to Taos in 1938. When World War II broke out, he worked for the office of Inter-American Affairs, Washington, D.C., as a chief content officer and propaganda analyst. After the War, Waters returned to New Mexico and bought his home in Arroyo Seco. He was editor of El Crepusculo, a weekly Spanish-English newspaper (1949-1951); and book reviewer for the Saturday Review of Literature (1950-1956). Waters also held positions as information consultant for Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico, and for the City of Las Vegas, Nevada, (1952-1956). He held a variety of other jobs, including writer for C.O. Whitney Motion Picture Co., Los Angeles (1957), writer-in-residence, Colorado State University, Fort Collins (1966); and director, New Mexico Arts Commission, Santa Fe, (1966-68). Waters' first publication was a short story called, "How It Was Settled," published in 1916. He began publishing in earnest in the 1930s. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 25 books and numerous articles and short works. Thematically, many of his publications relate to the Southwest and Native American culture. Mayan cosmology, atomic physics, and taoism are other topics evident in Waters' works. Waters' style distinguishes between the popular Western and the novel of the Southwest. His revealing, stark descriptions of the Southwestern landscape and the story of human adaptation to the environment has turned People of the Valley and The Man Who Killed the Deer into classics. In addition to his popular and successful publications, Waters' historical novel, River Lady has been produced as a film (Universal International.) Articles by Waters have appeared in numerous periodicals and publications. Foreign translations are in languages including French and German. Frank Waters died in New Mexico on June 3, 1995 at the age of 92.

From the description of Frank Waters correspondence and contracts, 1935-1983, 1961-1980. (University of New Mexico-Main Campus). WorldCat record id: 632307988

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