Paul E. Patterson — Hardhat and Stetson, signed by author (Sunstone Press, 1999)

What this book is

Robert O. Anderson (1917–2007) was one of the most consequential figures in 20th-century New Mexico business and ranching, and one of the most consequential American oil executives of his generation. Born in Chicago, he came to Roswell, NM, as a young man, married into a regional ranching family, and built first a small refinery, then a regional petroleum operation, then the Atlantic Richfield Company — the merger that created ARCO — and over the following decades the largest individual landownership in the United States, with reported holdings exceeding 2,000 square miles (a million-plus acres) of ranchland across New Mexico and Texas. The Diamond A Cattle Company in Lincoln County was the principal NM ranch.

Beyond petroleum and ranching, Anderson was a major American philanthropist and institution-builder. He chaired the Aspen Institute (originally founded in 1949 by Walter Paepcke) for an unusually long stretch of its mid- and late-20th-century period, helped revitalize and expand its programming, and remained on its board until his death. He funded substantial cultural and policy work through the Anderson family foundations and supported the Santa Fe Institute and other Southwestern intellectual infrastructure. He was inducted into the U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1986, the year a Fortune magazine article led with the line about a man who had "starting at age 24 with borrowed cash" pieced together the sixth-largest oil company in the United States.

Paul E. Patterson is a retired NM and Colorado rancher who turned to writing in his second career; his other titles include Triple Crown (a novel) and Great Plains Cattle Empire: Thatcher Brothers and Associates. His shorter pieces have appeared in New Mexico Magazine, Western Horseman, Field & Stream, and other regional and outdoors publications. Hardhat and Stetson is his condensed biography of Anderson's distinguished career, with the second half ("Meanwhile Back at the Ranch") devoted to the Diamond A operation in Lincoln County and the related cattle business.

Why this copy matters

Sunstone Press is one of the long-running Santa Fe regional publishers (the imprint dates to 1971, founded by James Clois Smith Jr.); its catalog is a representative cross-section of the small-press NM-history-and-biography market. A first-edition Sunstone biography signed by the author is the standard "regional collector" target piece, and Hardhat and Stetson's connection to one of the most consequential NM business figures of the century gives it an additional layer of historical interest.

The inscription is the noteworthy element. Paul Patterson signed and inscribed this copy "Hey, Zeke, I hope you enjoy my story" with the author's signature. The casual "Hey, Zeke" tone suggests the recipient was someone Patterson knew personally — perhaps a fellow rancher, ARCO retiree, or Lincoln County neighbor — rather than a stranger at a signing event. The "Sunstone Press" press logo is below the inscription on the title page, confirming the imprint.

Robert O. Anderson's signature pool closed when he died in 2007. Paul Patterson is in his late 90s as of 2026; his pool will close in due course. Signed Sunstone Press regional biographies are the kind of NM-history collectible that does not appear at chain thrifts because the cover designs are unremarkable and the authors are not nationally famous — the books pass through condition-rejection or get pulped without anyone opening the cover to find the signature.

Multi-part bibliographic record

How it came in

Donated in May 2026 through NMLP. Donor scenario anonymized per archive policy. The recipient of the inscription — "Zeke" — is unidentified; the casual tone suggests a personal acquaintance of the author. Book in clean paperback condition; light handling consistent with a presentation copy that was read.

Where it's going

Likely route: a NM-business-history scholar, a Lincoln County or Roswell-area collector, an ARCO/oil-industry historian, or a Diamond A Cattle Company / NM ranching specialist. The signed first edition is genuinely scarce; this is the kind of regional biography that doesn't reprint.