Gift of Mrs. Joshua M. Van Cott

Brooklyn Museum Collection

Bequest of W.S. Morton Mead

This back strap loom has a hole-and-slot heddle, a European invention that was used by Pueblo weavers around the turn of the 20th century but was discarded later in favor of the indigenous shed rod and string hoop heddle. The haft rope on one end would have been attached to a stationary object, while the woven red garter on the other end would have gone around the weaver's waist. On the loom, the Hopi style belt, with a red, green, and black warps and a black weft, is in progress.

Museum Collection Fund

Museum Collection Fund

Museum Expedition 1930, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund and the Museum Collection Fund

Model of a loom framed in plexiglass.

FROM CARD: "THE LOOM IS A BAR SUPPORTED ON TWO LEGS - NO OTHER APPARATUS. THE WARPS ARE WHITE YARN AND FIGURES IN BLACK, BLUE AND YELLOW YARN ARE WORKED IN TWINED WEAVING PRECISELY AS IN MAKING BASKETRY. THE FIGURES ARE MYTHOLOGICAL. THE WEAVER IN THIS WORK CONTRARY TO OTHER AMERICAN EXAMPLES, HAD THE PATTERN NOT MERELY IN HER MIND BUT PAINTED ON A BOARD."See related objects 209963, 209581 and T15491. See also the accession file, which contains a diagram and description of the loom done by Emmons. In a letter dated February 24, 1900, filed in Accession 40238, Emmons talks about getting a Chilkat blanket in process and accessories to be used on exhibit at the Smithsonian: "I know that I can get this from a family far up the Chilkat River in the goat country ..." In letters dated 5 and 9 October, 1900, filed in Accession 37889, Emmons talks about visiting the Chilkat (Chilkoot?) mountains and collecting the blanket in process from the upper Chilkat village in the mountains.Per Haida artists Delores Churchill and Evelyn Vanderhoop, 2015, the blanket and associated separate bags of yarn include Haida made yarn and commercial yarn.