The Laguna fiesta, held in celebration of the Pueblo’s patron saint, San José, was a large annual celebration that demonstrated the overlap of traditional Laguna and Spanish cultures. The many tents and booths indicate that a great variety of goods were on display. Leo Crane, an Anglo, took this picture during his tenure as superintendent of the southern Pueblos, a government post within what was then called the Office of Indian Affairs (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs). Crane considered the Pueblo people U.S. government wards who required federal oversight. An event like the fiesta would have been a large and complicated one for him to oversee.
Evaluating the Evidence