After a yearlong run at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, these significant textiles returned to the Center as the hallmark exhibition honoring its fiftieth anniversary year. The majority of the Navajo and Pueblo textiles on display were created between 1860 and 1880, a period during which the American Southwest experienced significant change, including the arrival of the railroad and increased opportunities for the exchange of commerce, culture, and ideas.
Indigenous peoples of the Southwest have practiced weaving for approximately 2,500 years. The cultivation of cotton played a prominent role in the production of early Southwestern textiles. By 1100, people living in what is now the Four Corners region were weaving on upright looms, producing large rectangular textiles used as blankets or garments. Following the introduction of sheep by the Spanish in 1598, Native weavers quickly adapted to the use of wool.