Southwest Textiles database launched at Arizona State Museum
Two brand new, searchable, illustrated databases aim to share the artistry and study of American Southwestern textiles with the world. Available at the click of a mouse are baseline data and images essential for understanding the evolution of three cultural textile traditions in the American Southwest—Navajo, Pueblo, and Spanish-American. Focusing on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the information spans three major periods from the time of Spanish governance to 1821, the Mexican era until 1846, and the American and early reservation period since then. The databases, plus extensive background information and helpful guides, are available on the Arizona State Museum website.
Arizona State Museum Southwest Textile Database
Joe Ben Wheat Southwest Textile Database
All images from the Arizona State Museum Southwest Textile Database
These revolutionary resources represent the result of decades of research by two world-renowned textile authorities: the late Dr. Joe Ben Wheat of the University of Colorado at Boulder and Dr. Ann Lane Hedlund, who recently retired as curator at Arizona State Museum and professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona. Of this culminating project, Hedlund said, “These tools can be used by anyone to create absolutely new knowledge about the Southwest’s Native American and European-influenced textile traditions. Most importantly, as an anthropologist who studies both living and long past artists, I want artists of all stripes to have access to this wondrous visual and technical compilation…We included nearly every SW textile in our collection, some 600 examples, and just over 1,300 specimens studied by Wheat in 50 other public collections.” Hedlund continues to act as the managing editor of the Joe Ben Wheat SW Textile Database. This project was supported by the Gloria F. Ross Tapestry Program at Arizona State Museum, with generous contributions from several private donors.
Sarape blanket, Navajo, c. 1840-1860, 1.29 x 1.67m, tapestry weave, sheep’s wool. Complex zoned network, finely stepped diamonds, horizontal zigzag lines and narrow band segments. Red, dark blue, white and dark green. ‘Spider Woman hole’ in centre.
Chief Blanket, Navajo, c. 1800-1860, 1.91 x 1.61m, plain weave, sheep’s wool. Blue and dark brown banded units across centre and along both ends. Five wider white and dark brown bands between banded units.
Saltillo influence blanket, Rio Grande, Spanish-American, c. 1850, 1.33 x 2.12m, tapestry weave, sheep’s wool & cotton.
Central concentric serrate diamond surrounded by many vertical serrate lines. Series of plain bands along each end. Golden yellow, light green, pink, red and purple-blue.
Two piece dress, Navajo, c. 1850-1860, 0.87 x 1.36m, tapestry weave, sheep’s wool. Wide red band along each end with row of 6 dark blue open stepped diamonds, 5 narrow bands along inner edge and row of small stepped triangles along both edges. Dark brown-black centre field.
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