Journal of the Southwest

California Family Newmark: An Intimate History by Leo NewmarkReview by: Leonard DinnersteinArizona and the West, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Summer, 1971), pp. 199-200Published by: Journal of the SouthwestStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40167644 .

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REVIEWS 199

writing. Dresden is also in error in his statement on page 92 that Roosevelt went out of the cattle business immediately after the winter of 1 886-1 887. As a matter of fact Roosevelt continued his operations in Dakota, although substan-

tially reduced, until 1897 when he went to Cuba to take part in the Spanish- American War.

Well-illustrated, this volume has an attractive format. Unfortunately it is

poorly documented. The uncritical, who desire a highly-readable "Western" and who will ignore the well-worn cliches about de Mores, Roosevelt, and the Little Missouri region, will probably enjoy this book. However, the scholar who wishes for a well researched work on the contributions of Marquis de Mores to the Northern Plains region will find this volume disappointing.

Ray H. Mattison

The reviewer is a former director of the North Dakota State Historical Society, and has written extensively on the North Plains.

CALIFORNIA FAMILY NEWMARK: An Intimate History. By Leo Newmark. Santa Monica, California: Norton B. Stern, 1970. no pp. $10.00.

Leo Newmark's work chronicles the history of one of California's pioneering Jewish families. Joseph P. Newmark, the yater familiae, arrived in the United States in 1848, and, like so many other German- Jewish immigrants of his day, settled originally in the South and engaged in peddling. But for some reason - which his son never quite explains - he left New Orleans in 1851 for Cali- fornia. He split his early years there between Los Angeles and San Francisco but in 1858 established roots in the Bay area. That the elder Newmark succeeded

financially there can be no doubt. His wife patronized the theatre and the

opera, the family maintained a retinue of servants, and his son acknowledges that his father's wealth provided all "with a comfortable and even luxurious home and the opportunities for education and accomplishment

" A discussion of how Joseph Newmark made his money - and how much - would have interested this reader a great deal, but Leo Newmark never develops the subject. Nor does he elaborate on any other aspect of the family's history in California. The bare bones of the elder Newmark's career as dry goods and clothing merchant are sketched, though, and they do provide a nucleus for future scholars to build upon.

Historians and genealogists will find the actual history of the family of value for research purposes, for checking names and dates, and for locating some indi- viduals in time and place. Others might find an occasionally touching paragraph - such as when the author describes the loss of a younger sister - or an amusing one - such as when Newmark indicates his amazement, at the age of 12, when he discovered that another little sister had been delivered to the family while he was asleep. In the main, however, the description of 19th century California

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2oo ARIZONA and the WEST

is thin, and the relationship of the Newmark family to the state's development is not clearly traced.

The best part of the book is William Kramer's concluding commentary. It is lucid, insightful, and panoramic though brief. The interested reader will find out much about the history of the Jews in California, the Newmark family's role in mercantile affairs, and Jewish cultural characteristics. Research topics are

suggested, although not in that way. Kramer indicates, for example, that anti- Semitism developed to a much larger extent in Los Angeles than in San Fran- cisco. This subject seems worth investigating more deeply. He also notes that German Jews looked down upon East European Jews. Interested students might wish to study the ramifications of this prejudice in a given locale.

In sum, California Family Newmark does not provide the entertainment or

insights that one looks for in good history. It does suggest, however, areas for

exploration by interested students. Leonard Dinnerstein

A member of the history faculty at the University of Arizona, the reviewer is a specialist in American social history, and has recently completed American Vistas.

INDIAN SKIN PAINTINGS FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTH- WEST: Two Representations of Border Conflicts between Mexico and the Missouri in the Early Eighteenth Century. By Gottfried Hotz. Translated by Johannes Malthaner. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970. 248 pp. $9.95.

In 1758 Father Philipp Segesser, a Jesuit missionary who had served much of his frontier time at San Xavier del Bac (near Tucson), sent home to Switzer- land a box "in which my heart has been shipped." His "heart" took the form of three enormous, wall-sized buffalo skins on which Indians had painted historic scenes. One of these hides was subsequently lost; the other two are the subject of this book.

The remaining two skins were found after World War II by Gottfried Hotz, curator of the Indian Museum in Zurich and a student of Native American art. From the start he was well aware of their importance. So also had been men as far back as Coronado, who first mentioned such art. In most of the Plains Indians' cultures, skin paintings chronicled heroic deeds and also, like the paintings of the Medicis, symbolized the wealth of their owner. But few of the early ones have remained, and even fewer in good condition.

The first Segesser skin depicts a punitive expedition sent out by Governor Antonio Valverde against the Apaches in 17 14; the second shows a massacre of Spaniards by the Plains Indians in present-day Nebraska six years later. They are historical sources of the first magnitude - detailed accounts by eye-witnesses. They show the Indians already armed with European equipment. Hotz can identify some of the individuals, and he can plot rather precise locations. He

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