AMERICAN ART AND CULTURE
MARKETING NAVAJO TEXTILES
Individuals have sought licenses from the United States Government to engage in the lucrative business of trading with Indian nations. Beginning in the 1870s, traders in the Southwest and elsewhere began using this relationship as a means of promoting Native-made handicrafts to non-Indians. By 1887, trader C.N. Cotton was writing to retailers in New York, San Francisco and Denver, inquiring if they would be interested in selling his Navajo-made wares. Nine years later he produced a mail-order catalog of rugs and other Southwestern goods. One of the most successful trading posts was run by Cotton's some-time partner Juan Lorenzo Hubbell in Ganada, Arizona. Althought it has become a National Historica Site, local Navajos can still trade and sell their weavings there. For more on the Hubbell trading post, click here.
Activity
(review the reading from Kate Peck Kent Kent, Navajo Weaving before you begin)
In recent years, weavers and their supporters have explored ways to market their textiles directly to the public. The rise of the internet has offered a whole new kind of access. Explore the links below to see some variations on the Traders' catalogs. Think about how they do and do not resemble the marketing strategies used by Hubbell and the other traders? What impression do these sites give about the weavers, weavings, and the Navajo culture? What strategies do they use to persuade you to purchase a textile?