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Eastern and New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs collection, circa 1930s

MS-225

Biographical Note

The Eastern Association on Indian Affairs was founded in New York in 1922 as a direct response to the Bursum Bill, federal legislation intended to allow non-Native Americans to lay claim to Pueblo land in New Mexico, which would have resulted in the destruction of ancient pueblos. The New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs was the western branch of the organization. In 1933, Oliver La Farge, an anthropologist and Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist, became the EAIA's president; in 1939 he merged his group, the faltering NMAIA, and the American Indian Defense Association (AIDA) into what became the American Association on Indian Affairs, with headquarters in New York. In 1946, the name was changed to the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA).

By joining forces, the EAIA, NMAIA, and the AIDA, led by John Collier, the American social reformer, were instrumental in defeating the Bursum Bill. Following their victory, these groups saw that the needs of Indian people reached far beyond one piece of legislation. Today, the AAIA continues to be an advocate for the welfare of Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

The Indian Arts Fund (IAF) began as early as 1922 when a group of Santa Fe anthropologists, writers, and art patrons organized the Pueblo Pottery Fund, which was intended to revive the arts and crafts of the Pueblo people. They began collecting examples of Southwest Indian pottery, textiles, baskets, jewelry, paintings, clothing, and other objects and made them available for study and inspiration. In 1925, the organization was incorporated as the Indian Arts Fund. The IAF disbanded in 1972 and its holdings along with those of the School of American Research (originally founded in 1907 as the School of American Archaeology) were brought together. A new facility, The Indian arts Research Center, was constructed to house the collections. In 2007, the School of American Research was renamed the School for Advanced Research on the Human Experience (SAR). SAR continues to encourage advanced scholarship in anthropology and related social science disciplines and the humanities, and to facilitate the work of Native American scholars and artists by offering residential fellowships.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of a set of 11 photographs of old Navajo blankets, hand-colored, wholly or partially, and mounted on heavy cardboard. These blankets have simple patterns, and part or all of each photo was painted to show the colors of the original blanket. These images were made by the EAIA, NMAIA, and the IAF in the 1930s and lent to traders on the Navajo Reservation to be shown to weavers to try to encourage them to use pleasing color combinations and simple patterns. Morris Burge and his wife, Margaret McKittrick Burge, represented the NMAIA and took the photos to the Reservation to talk over the project with the traders.

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Use

Unpublished and published manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Controlled Access Terms

Administrative Information

Custodial History

The prints were created and painted in the 1930s by the Eastern Association on Indian Affairs, the New Mexico Association on Indian Affiars, and the Indian Arts Fund. They were distributed to the [Joseph] Marshall Drolet Trading Post. Drolet never used the prints nor returned them to the EAIA. Drolet eventually gave them to Clay Lockett.

Preferred Citation

Eastern and New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs collection, MS-225 [Box Number]. Museum of Northern Arizona. Flagstaff, Arizona.

Acquisition Information

Clay Lockett donated this collection to the Museum of Northern Arizona in 1975 (accession #MS-225a).

Processing Information

Processed in October of 2010.

Bibliography

Amsden, Charles Avery. 1934. Navaho weaving: its Technic and its History

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