Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund

Navajo. The mescal seeds indicate Southern Plains or the southwest region.

Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund

Museum Expedition 1904, Museum Collection Fund

Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund

Silver bracelet with one green-colored stone set in a silver sunburst medallion. The front of the band consists of four (4) ridges alternating with three (3) furrows. Each ridge is decorated with roughly parallel, vertical incisions.

The Navajo wove waterproof, striped wool blankets that became known as Chief Blankets and traded them to other tribes. In 1863 the U.S. Army forcibly removed the Navajo from Arizona to Bosque Redondo detention camp in New Mexico and killed the tribe’s churro sheep. Ingenious weavers combined commercial wool with unraveled army blankets to create new designs with colorful details, as seen here. During captivity, weavings became the primary source of income.

In 1868 the Navajo returned to their homelands, and weaving flourished with the advent of the railroad and the establishment of trading posts.

Design is fret designs in indigo, red, black and white. Good condition. In 1880-1881 the Santa Fe Railroad was extended through Navajo territory, bringing new materials and new customers for Navajo weavings. As soon as commercial four-ply yarns and aniline (chemical) dyes became available, Navajo weavers employed them to their full potential. Designs changed from simple stripes and conservative diamond patterns to an explosion of innovation in weaving, with new colors not available with natural dyes such as yellow, orange, green, and purple.

The basket for these prayer sticks has never been located. This impressive set has 101 prayer sticks of different sizes, colors, and patterns, strung together. Some singers kept a "sample" roll of prayer sticks to aid in making the ones used in all the various chants. This possibly might be a sample roll and never had a basket. It also might have been made for display purposes as usually the prayer sticks were destroyed during the ceremonies.