Paul Horgan

One of the greatest American historical writers of his time, Paul Horgan, had many accomplishments in the course of his lifetime.

Born in Buffalo, New York in 1903 to English-Irish newspaper publisher Edward Daniel Horgan, Paul Horgan's family later moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he grew up until he attended New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell. It was there where he first met his lifelong friend and future artist Peter Hurd. Paul later went on to accomplish much more when he enrolled in Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. There he met Vladimir Rosing, a Russian tenor, who was seeking to start his own opera company. Without having any experience in the field of designing sets, Paul Horgan managed to convince Rosing to give him a chance to prove himself.

Three years later a prominent opera company was formed.

Although Paul had been very successful in previous years both as an artist and a set designer, he first came to prominence when he won the Harper Prize in 1933 for the book, The Fault of Angels. At that point, his writing career was only beginning. Paul Horgan was fortunate enough to win the Pulitzer Prize twice in his lifetime, once in 1955 for his history book, Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History; and again in 1976 for Lamy of Santa Fe. Both books broke new ground and are still considered classics in the historical literature of the American southwest.

Upon his death 1995, he had published forty books and had received nineteen honorary degrees from universities in the United States.