Navajo Code Talker Collections Donated to CSWR
November 24, 2022 - Sara Velasquez
The University Libraries proudly celebrates Native American Heritage Month by shining a light on recently added indigenous collections in the Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections (CSWR). The Carl N. Gorman and William Dean Wilson Collection, both document the lives and service of the aforementioned men who were among the first twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers of World War II. The collections were donated by Zonnie Gorman —a recognized historian on the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, prior CSWR Graduate Fellow and daughter of Carl Gorman.
The First Twenty-nine was the initial group recruited by the US Marine Corps in 1942 as the pilot of Navajo men to test the feasibility of using the Navajo language for combat communications. They became Platoon 382, the first all-Native, all-Navajo platoon in Marine Corps history. The Navajo Code Talkers service to the country significantly impacted the outcome of the war.
Both collections include military documents and photos from their lives including their time in the military. Wilson’s collection contains six boxes and is available with permission from the donor. The Carl Gorman Collection is currently still being processed with about 52 boxes of materials.
Between 1969 and 1973, Carl Gorman was a professor at the University of California, Davis. There he was one of the four founding faculty of the Native American Studies Department. Gorman received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from The University of New Mexico in 1990 for his lifelong work and achievements in Indian art, education, and culture.
Read more in the UNM Newsroom
