When they were both six, Emil Haury met his future first wife, Hulda Penner, when she and her family visited Newton from a nearby Mennonite community.

After graduating high school in 1923, Emil then attended the University of Arizona where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1927 and his M.A.

[1] In 1928 the New York stockbroker turned archaeologist Harold Gladwin along with Winifred McCurdy started the Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation.

With the assistance and support from Gladwin, Haury was able to conduct large amounts of field research and publish reports.

His dissertation dealt with the excavations by Frank Hamilton Cushing at Los Muertos, a Hohokam site in Arizona.

During the late 1930s and early 1940s excavations, led by Julian Hayden and Haury, were conducted in the area of Ventana Cave in Arizona.

In 1952 Haury began investigating an arroyo where a rancher, Edward F. Lehner, had observed bones sticking out from a deep layer.

Working for Gila Pueblo alongside the Gladwins, Haury published an extensive and detailed report of the findings.

This report along with those published by the Gladwins, were important in the establishment of ceramic typologies, burial techniques, and lifeways of the Hohokam.

Arguably Haury's most important contribution to the archaeology of the American Southwest was his work in establishing a timeline and refining the definition of the Mogollon culture.

Early research in the area focused on the ceramics that made the valley famous, while ignoring the underlying structures and pottery types.

[1] It was Haury who, starting in the 1930s with Gila Pueblo, began to identify and understand the timeline and uniqueness of the Mogollon from their Anasazi and Hohokam neighbors.

Haury's research in the area allowed him to be one of the first archaeologists to definitively give the Mogollon a chronological sequence.

An abundance of artifacts were uncovered including pottery, clay objects, grinding stones, projectile points, as well as several burials.

As well as holding his position at the university, Haury also took on the role of Director of the Arizona State Museum, which he held until 1964.

The Arizona State Museum Library & Archives currently holds the Emil Haury Papers in its collections.

It includes examples of Haury's own artwork, which he used to illustrate both his field notes and letters to his future wife, Hulda.