The Teaching Tree: How Southwest Silversmithing Spread

According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 178), the Navajo learned to work metal in the mid-1850s but did not create silver work of note until their return from forced exile at Bosque Redondo in 1868. ^[22]

According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 180), Atsidi Chon (Ugly Smith) is credited as the first Navajo to set turquoise in silver, in the 1880s, while Peshlakai (Slender Maker of Silver), whom they call the younger brother of Atsidi Sani, refined the techniques into an expressive craft from the 1890s; his son Fred Peshlakai carried it on from the 1920s into the 1960s. ^[22]

Chambless & Ryan (2021) name the generations who made it fine art after World War II:

“Names such as Lloyd Kiva New, Charles Loloma, Joe Quintana, Preston Monongye, Paul Saufkie, and Kenneth Begay forged a new direction followed by the next leaders in Native jewelry, including Jesse Monongya, Cippy Crazyhorse, Verma Nequatewa, Harvey Begay, Larry Golsh, James Little, and Lee and Ray Yazzie.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 180 ^[22]

Bedinger (1973) records who arrived at the Fort Defiance agency with Captain Henry L. Dodge in September 1853:

“He brought with him a blacksmith, George Carter, "a man of sterling worth and every inch a soldier," and a Mexican silversmith, Juan Anea.”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 8 ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 8), Chee Dodge later told Woodward that Atsidi Sani came to the agency forge to look on and learned some things, and that Atsidi Sani first taught his four sons (Big Black, Red Smith, Little Smith and Burnt Whiskers) to work in iron. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 10) reports Chee Dodge's statement that the Mexican smith brought in by Captain Dodge in 1853 taught the Navajos near the agency to work iron and copper, which she calls the first firm evidence of Navajos working copper. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 17), after 1868 Mexican smiths travelled the reservation, stayed at Navajo hogans and turned their hosts' silver coin into ornaments, paid in livestock; Van Valkenburgh reported one sheep for a ring or a pair of earrings and twenty sheep for a concha belt. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973) describes how the craft passed to Navajo families this way:

“The Indian for whom they worked watched them; often the Indian's son worked the bellows, and he watched also.”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 17 ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 17) records that in 1884 J. L. Hubbell and his new partner C. N. Cotton brought in Mexican smiths to give instruction at Ganado, among them Thick Lips of Cubero, New Mexico, and Benedito, who according to Peshlakai Atsidi helped the Navajos learn to make solder, a skill the Mexican smiths guarded. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973) extends one branch of the tree:

“Another of Atsidi Sani's pupils was Long Moustache, who in his turn instructed Sam Tilden.”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 20 ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 22) observes that most of the pioneer smiths lived within twenty-five to forty miles of Ganado and of one another, with Forts Defiance and Wingate nearby supplying both silver and buyers, while roaming Mexican plateros gave Navajos elsewhere their own chance to learn. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973) reports the Navajo testimony on the first setting:

“Grey Moustache had another candidate; he believed Atsidi Chon made the first setting, turquoise in a ring, in about 1878”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 48 ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 48) notes that Long Moustache, who lived near Atsidi Chon, told the same story, and that Adair qualified the claim with 'in this region', meaning the circle of pioneer smiths around Ganado. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 120), government Indian schools taught silversmithing and encouraged fine design and proper weight of metal, and some excellent craftsmen came out of the schools at Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Fort Wingate, Shiprock and Tuba City. The Wingate Guild was formed in 1939-40 to employ skilled former students, with Ambrose Roanhorse as director. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 115), citing Adair, the first mention of women silverworkers among the Navajo came from Grey Moustache, around 1918. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 133), following Adair's fieldwork, when Atsidi Chon came to Zuni in 1872 he found one resident who spoke Navajo, Lanyade, who invited him to live in his house. Chon set up a workshop there, let no one but Lanyade watch him, and after a year and the gift of a good horse taught Lanyade silverworking, even to the making of stamps. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 134), Lanyade in turn taught Balawade, a friend who already worked copper and brass, and Balawade passed the craft to a few others, all older copper and brass workers: Adair traced Yachilthle, Lawiacelo, Kwianade and Kwaisedemon. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 134), another first-generation Zuni silversmith was Hatsetsenane, Sneezing Man, whose son, also a silverworker, was the father of Horace Aiuli, one of the best silver craftsmen at Zuni when Adair worked there. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 136), Keneshde learned silversmithing from his grandfather Kwaisedemon, one of the pioneer Zuni smiths. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 141), teaching could also run upward: after Keneshde set the first turquoise at Zuni, Balawade came to him to learn the technique and passed it on to Yachilthle, Kwianade and Lawiacelo, until all the smiths in Zuni were setting turquoise. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 151), the first woman to become a full silversmith at Zuni was Della Casi, who learned from her husband around 1926; by 1938 eight Zuni women held trader accounts in their own names as silverworkers. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 150), at Zuni the craft was usually learned informally from a relative, first by watching and then by doing the easier tasks, with that help accepted in place of a fee; after several years a novice with enough cash or credit for tools might set up on his own. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 157) gave two accounts of how Sikyatala began. In Lanyade's version to Adair, Lanyade came to Sichomovi on First Mesa in 1898 and Sikyatala learned from him there. In the version Mary-Russell Colton gathered from Hopi informants, Sikyatala walked to Zuni shortly before 1890 to learn from Lanyade, who then came back and worked with him at Walpi for a year. She noted that Tanner accepted the 1898 date. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 158), Sikyatala taught his friend Tawahonganiwa, a chief at Shongopovi on Second Mesa. Tawahonganiwa taught four of his sons: Homiyesva (Joshua), Lomawunu, Washington and Silas. Silver was being made at Shongopovi by 1904. The craft then reached Third Mesa, where two Oraibi brothers, Dan Koitshongva and his brother, learned from Tawahonganiwa and his sons. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 158) recorded that in 1907 an Old Oraibi man named Sakwiam ordered a necklace from Sikyatala and learned the basic techniques, including soldering, by watching him make it. Sakwiam later set up a shop at Hotevilla. Around 1916 Sikyatala taught his nephew Roscoe Narvasi at First Mesa, and Narvasi was still working in 1938. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 162), Adair believed Mexican smiths living to the north taught silverworking to the Acomas, just as other Mexicans had taught the Navajo (Diné). ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 164) recorded an Acoma line traced by Adair. A half-remembered older smith taught his sister's son, Vincente Chávez. About 1898 Chávez offered to teach his grieving son-in-law, José Antonio Platero ('José Antonio Silversmith'), without charge. Platero went on to make earrings, bracelets and necklaces, and also cast silver in stone molds by the methods Chávez showed him. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 167), around 1900 two outside smiths, José Antonio of Acoma and the Zuni smith Lanyade, worked at Laguna and evidently passed on their skill. By 1908 about six smiths were working there. One of them, Diego Ramos, originally from Isleta, is said to have been the first Laguna smith to set turquoise. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 170) traced Diego Ramos's own training as an example of how influence moved among peoples. He was introduced to metalworking at Isleta. About 1885 he learned the rudiments of silversmithing from Valencenio (Juan Apodaca), a Spanish-born saddle maker living at Peralta. While herding sheep at Silver Creek, Arizona, a Hopi smith taught him stone setting in exchange for fancy wire-bending. He visited Zuni in 1908, became a leading smith at Laguna, and died at Isleta in 1918. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 169), in about 1903 Juan Rey Churina, a silversmith who had moved from Laguna to Isleta in 1879, taught the craft to an Isleta man, José Jaramillo. Jaramillo was still living when Adair visited some thirty-five years later. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 172) reported Adair's date of 1893 for the first Santo Domingo (Kewa) silversmith. Ralph Atencio learned from a white jeweler who ran a shop in Santa Fe. He taught his son, also named Ralph, and five other men, each of whom paid him twenty-five dollars. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 175), in the 1890s José Rey León of the Santa Ana farming village of Rancheros learned silverworking from a Navajo smith in the San Ysidro region and taught several younger men of his village. ^[23]

Bedinger (1973, p. 164) noted that by Adair's 1938 visit, none of the eight younger Acoma smiths had learned from the pueblo's old smiths; all had learned in Albuquerque shops. She reported the same pattern at Laguna (p. 167) and at Isleta, where ten of fifteen younger smiths worked in Albuquerque shops (p. 170). ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 200), the Zuni sand-casting of her day had no line back to Lanyade: the method had apparently been forgotten and was taught to contemporary Zunis decades later by a trader, George Rummage. ^[23]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 202), in the Hopi veterans' class that began in February 1947, Paul Saufkie taught technique while Fred Kabotie served as Art Director and Business Manager. ^[23]

According to Frank (1990, p. 6), just before the internment at Bosque Redondo, Spanish blacksmiths had shown ironworking to at least one early Navajo (Diné) smith, who made iron buckles, bits and horse trappings with simple tooled designs; brass and copper went into some of the earliest bracelets, and after the 1868 return the blacksmiths, now novice silversmiths, worked silver with makeshift tools made from castoff pieces of other metal trades. ^[24]

Frank (1990, p. 7) wrote that in the 1870s a silversmith held great prestige among the Navajo (Diné), almost like a priest at his craft, and that his knowledge and output were in great demand. ^[24]

According to Frank (1990, p. 7), production accelerated at the end of the 1870s and the ornaments reached Pueblo villages such as Laguna and Acoma, where Pueblo people began to learn the craft themselves; after 1900 a craft industry grew first among Navajo smiths and then at Zuni, whose smiths were establishing their own styles by 1915. ^[24]

Frank (1990) put the first turquoise settings later than the Navajo testimony does:

“In the 1890s turquoise began to be set in silver — a natural and inspired marriage which, in retrospect, ensured the popularity of Indian jewelry.”
— Frank (1990), p. 7 ^[24]

According to Frank (1990, p. 19), the first Navajo (Diné) smiths hammered, cut with a cold chisel, shaped with a file and decorated with file, stamps and occasional rocker-engraving, the same processes Mexican blacksmiths then used for ironwork; even soldering had a close counterpart in forge-brazing, which joined small iron objects such as keys with copper or brass. ^[24]

From that evidence and Grey Moustache's testimony, Holbrook, writing in Frank (1990), concluded:

“Thus, based on visual evidence and the Navajo oral tradition, it seems apparent that the Mexican plateros and leatherworkers probably had very little to do with the beginning of Southwest Indian jewelry.”
— Frank (1990), p. 19 ^[24]

According to Frank (1990, p. 22), Grey Moustache named to Adair nine other smiths taught by Atsidi Sani, among them his son Red Smith, remembered as both a good salesman and a prolific craftsman. ^[24]

From the Smithsonian's early collection, Frank (1990) drew his central conclusion:

“The evidence that heavy Plains Indian influence was exerted on the Navajo silversmiths from the late 1860s to the 1890s is overwhelming and undeniable.”
— Frank (1990), p. 28 ^[24]

According to Frank (1990, p. 29), the fledgling Navajo (Diné) smiths used Plains jewelry as a catalyst toward their own bold patterns; he did not argue against a long Spanish influence, but held that a surprising amount of learning from Plains smiths took place. ^[24]

According to Frank (1990, p. 29), Donald D. Graham, the first U.S. agent at Zuni from 1880 to 1885, labeled many of the pieces he collected there as Navajo, which Frank read as a sign that the Zuni received much of their early jewelry through trade with the Navajo (Diné). ^[24]

On Hopi silver, Frank (1990) wrote:

“Even though the Hopis were late to learn jewelry-making from the Navajos, by the late 1890s they had begun to fashion their own jewelry, although the items cannot be readily distinguished from Navajo work.”
— Frank (1990), p. 29 ^[24]

Frank (1990, Fig. 85, p. 77) names an early Zuni smith and dates his work by its collection record:

“It was made by Gushgi, a Zuni silversmith, and collected in 1901 at Zuni Pueblo by H. E. Sargent.”
— Frank (1990), p. 77 ^[24]

According to Frank (1990, p. 77, Fig. 85), Gushgi's pair had heavy silver pomegranates hanging from thick forged silver loops, one of three types of early squash blossom earrings that Navajo and Pueblo people wore, all dating from 1900 or before. ^[24]

Frank (1990, Fig. 213, p. 172) recorded Navajo (Diné) smiths working for Pueblo clients:

“Navajo silversmiths were in great demand until the Pueblos developed their own professional craftsmen.”
— Frank (1990), p. 172 ^[24]

According to Frank (1990, p. 172, Fig. 213), one repoussé, stamped and filed ketoh was made by a Navajo smith for a man at Santo Domingo Pueblo around 1910. ^[24]

On horse gear, Frank (1990, Fig. 230, p. 184) wrote:

“The Navajos were taught by Mexican blacksmiths to make iron bits and although they did not need such elaborate dangles, they found them pleasing and reproduced them in all their complexity.”
— Frank (1990), p. 184 ^[24]

Turnbaugh (2007, p. 18, caption) record a teaching line that ran from the Plains through the Navajo (Diné) to Zuni (A:shiwi):

“The technique of rocker engraving passed from the Plains Indians to the Navajo who, in turn, taught the decorative method to the Zuni in about 1880.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 18 ^[25]

According to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 26), silversmithing was first practiced by men, and Navajo (Diné) women were working silver by 1918, which the Turnbaughs read as one measure of how quickly the craft was commercializing. ^[25]

According to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 23), turquoise was first combined with silverwork around 1880. ^[25]

Turnbaugh (2007) described the forges at Bosque Redondo as a place where the craft was taught:

“During the years of confinement at Bosque Redondo, Navajo men were given tools for blacksmithing. Atsidi Sani was among several Navajo blacksmiths who ran two forges on the reservation and helped teach the craft to other Navajos.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 43 ^[25]

Turnbaugh (2007) also linked Slender-Maker-of-Silver to Atsidi Chon rather than to Atsidi Sani:

“In about 1872, Atsidi Chon taught the craft to the Zuni smith Lanyade, and in 1880 Atsidi Chon or an apprentice named Peshlakai Atsidi (or Slender-Maker-of-Silver) was the first to set a turquoise stone in a silver bezel.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 43 ^[25]

According to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 53), the Zuni had worked copper and brass salvaged from old kettles from about 1830, some four decades before they took up silver. ^[25]

William and Sarah Turnbaugh (Turnbaugh 2007) described the first Zuni silver:

“Much of the earliest silver jewelry of the Zuni is essentially identical to the Navajo work which spawned it.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 53 ^[25]

According to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 61), after learning from Atsidi Chon in 1872, the Zuni smith Lanyade began trading some of his own silver among the Hopi, apparently for handwoven native cotton textiles. ^[25]

William and Sarah Turnbaugh (Turnbaugh 2007) dated the Hopi link:

“Later, in about 1890, Lanyade taught his craft to a Hopi named Sikyatala or "Yellow Light."”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 61 ^[25]

According to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 66), silversmithing was learned at Acoma, Laguna and Isleta in the 1870s and practiced into the 20th century. Most of the work was plain silver, though Diego Ramos, a Laguna smith originally from Isleta, began setting turquoise in silver after about 1910. ^[25]

At Santo Domingo (Kewa), Turnbaugh (2007) dated the first smith:

“In 1893, Ralph Atencio became the first to learn the skill at Santo Domingo.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 67 ^[25]

As of the late 1980s, Turnbaugh (2007, p. 72) reported that some young Native silversmiths were getting formal training through special courses and schools that promote the continuation of Native arts, the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe being among the most notable; it encouraged technical skill while students looked for their own ways to express their traditional heritage. ^[25]

According to Wright (2003, p. 9), Mary-Russell Colton reported in 1939 that after 1890 the Zuni trader and silversmith Lanyade met the Hopi trader Sikyatala, whose name means Yellow Light; accounts differ on whether the lessons took place at Hopi or at Zuni, and Wright notes Sikyatala belonged to the Mustard Clan, which had Zuni associations. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 10), Duwakuku, also of Sichomovi and of the same Mustard Clan as Yellow Light, may well have made silver before 1900 and perhaps worked with Sikyatala; his surviving cast bow guard shows skill in casting. ^[26]

Wright (2003) names the next link in the Hopi chain:

“Two Second Mesa men, Tawanimptewa and Tawahongniwa, are said to have learned how to make jewelry from Yellow Light.”
— Wright (2003), p. 10 ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 10), Tawahongniwa's five sons soon learned jewelry making, and his daughter's grandson, Valjean Lomaheftewa, later studied silversmithing under the G.I. Bill after World War II. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 11), the daughter of Tawahongniwa's oldest son, Joshua, said her father began his silverwork at Carlisle Indian School, and Joshua demonstrated Hopi silversmithing for a week in San Diego in 1915. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 12), Andrew Humiquaptewa of Shungopavi was a blacksmith who taught himself silverwork and instructed his son, Paul Saufkie. ^[26]

Wright (2003) quotes the Third Mesa smith Sakewyumptewa (Sakwiam), as John Adair recorded him, on learning by watching Yellow Light:

“I watched him make those beads and paid him fifteen dollars for them. I saw just how he used his tools and melted the silver.”
— Wright (2003), p. 13 ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 13), Hopis remembered Sakewyumptewa by the nickname Sió, meaning the Zuni, because he spent a lot of time there, and Wright thought he likely also learned from smiths at Zuni. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 15), before 1906 the Oraibi cousins Ralph Tawangyaouma and Pierce Kewanwytewa practised silverwork with solder melted off tin cans, possibly with some help from Sió. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 17), Earl Numkina of Moenkopi started silvermaking in the 1920s and taught several younger men the craft. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 18), before his death in 1934 or 1935 the Moenkopi smith Grant Jenkins had helped at least two Hopi men, Morris Robinson and Randall Honwisioma, become full-time silversmiths, and his cousin Harold Jenkins first learned from his wife's brother, Frank Nutaima. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 21), in 1930, while several Hopis were working as actors at San Gabriel, California, Earl Numkina's nephew Willie Coin of Oraibi watched him work silver in his off hours and asked to be taught; in the late 1930s Coin's relative Frieda Santiago of Oraibi learned by watching him in turn. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 21), the Oraibi smith Lewis Lomay (Lomayesva) learned silver jewelry from the Navajo teacher Ambrose Roanhorse at the Indian School in Santa Fe about 1930. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 38), the veterans' classes started in February 1947 with Paul Saufkie hired as the technical instructor and Fred Kabotie, alongside his job as art teacher at Hopi High School in Kykotsmovi, as the design instructor. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 36), a California craft teacher, Glen Lukens, gave Paul Saufkie suggestions about the new silver solder developed for aircraft and formulas for oxidizing background silver in different shades. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 46), Wayne and Emory Sekaquaptewa learned silverwork in Phoenix from the smith Harry Sakyesva, then hired Bernard Dawahoya and Eldon James for the business that became Hopicrafts. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 58), many Hopi smiths first learned in classes or from other smiths and then received further training from kinsmen or kiva members, with novices encouraged by friends and relatives, so that by her time there were many families of silversmiths, men and women. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 59), Roy Talahaftewa first made overlay in the Hopi guild style, learning from his brother Willie Archie and his brother-in-law Ted Wadsworth, one of the early guild smiths. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 60), Gary Yoyokie of Kykotsmovi picked up the rudiments of silversmithing while sweeping and doing chores at Hopicrafts during high-school summers, and his wife, Elsie, then learned the craft from him. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 65), the French jeweler Pierre Touraine in Phoenix gave his students a knowledge of gold work and the ability to set precious stones; Charles Supplee studied under him and later tutored his brother Don. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 67), Duayne Maktima and Bob Lomadapki, together with the Navajo smith Victor Beck, worked in Flagstaff under a program sponsored by the Museum of Northern Arizona to spark artistic ideas through contact with one another, with Jake Brookins as mentor. ^[26]

Wright (2003) recorded how Hopi training continued after the G.I. Bill program:

“After the veterans' classes ended, new smiths learned their trade by working at the Hopi Guild.”
— Wright (2003), p. 71 ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 71), work from the veterans' classes was sold at the Indian Arts and Crafts Board exhibit in Washington, D.C., the Hopi Craftsman Shows of the Museum of Northern Arizona, the Arizona State Fair in Phoenix and, once it was established, the Hopi Silvercraft Guild, so even a smith who made silver only in class may have work in public hands. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 73), fewer than half of the men who took silversmithing under the G.I. Bill continued to work at it, which she thought compared favorably with other veterans' training programs. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 106), every one of the nine smiths listed on that page, all of whom began silverwork in 1991, was recorded as having learned at the Guild. ^[26]

Wright (2003, p. 108) recorded Quinton Laban, of the Bear clan at Shungopavi, as beginning in 1992 after learning from his grandfather, Victor Coochwytewa. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 102), Reginald Dewakuku, who began in 1990 at Shipaulovi, learned from Phillip Sekaquaptewa. ^[26]

Wright (2003, p. 102) recorded that Don Supplee, who began in 1989 at Kykotsmovi, learned from his brother Charles Supplee and from Roy Talaheftewa. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 101), the shop Honani Crafts also trained smiths: Tony (Anthony) Burton was listed as a Honani Crafts trainee and Harlan Joseph as having learned there, both beginning in 1989. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 88), Wilmer Kavena of Sichomovi, listed as beginning in 1974, had been introduced to silverwork and lapidary in 1939 at the Keams Canyon shop class, taught by Corbert Grant. ^[26]

Wright (2003, p. 91) records that Henry Shelton learned at the Santa Fe Indian School from a Navajo smith, Jack Smith, in 1949, and did some silverwork in 1975. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 90), Myron Sekakuku of Shungopavi and Shipaulovi, who began in 1975, learned at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, and his mark was probably first used in 1977. ^[26]

Wright (2003, p. 94) records that Preston Duwyenie of Hotevilla, who began in 1980, attended IAIA and also Colorado State University under the instructor Nelda Getty. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 89), Phil Navasya of Oraibi, who began in 1974, studied at California State University, Fresno, with Ed Lund, and Bobby Tewa, whose mother was from San Juan Pueblo and father from Bacavi, learned as an apprentice in the San Juan jewelry program. ^[26]

Wright (2003, p. 94) records that Loren Kootswatewa of Hotevilla learned at Hopicrafts from the Sekaquaptewa brothers. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 75), Gene Nuvahoioma of Hotevilla learned from Ralph Tawangyaouma, probably during the 1920s, and his son Allen Pooyama became a silversmith. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 77), Allen Pooyama learned from his father, Gene; Eddie Scott, Sr. learned from Allen; and Harry Sakyesva may have learned from Ralph Tawangyaoma and Allen Pooyama in Tucson. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 81), Wayne and Emory Sekaquaptewa learned from Harry Sakyesva, and Bernard Dawahoya, after learning from his uncles and at the Guild Shop, helped instruct the smiths at Hopicrafts' Kykotsmovi shop. ^[26]

According to Wright (2003, p. 80), Vernon Talas, who joined the 1948 G.I. Bill classes, had done blacksmithing before, so he made his own tools and some for others in the class. ^[26]

According to Bassman (1993, p. 2), Charles Loloma, whom she called a student of Fred Kabotie, taught his craft to his nieces Verma Nequatewa and Sherian Honhongva; by 1993 the sisters exhibited together under the name Sonwai. ^[27]

Bassman (1993, p. 2) recorded that Preston Monongye, born a Mission Indian and adopted by a Hopi family when he was seven, learned the Hopi language and silversmithing from his uncle, David Monongye. ^[27]

According to Bassman (1997, p. 5), the Navajos learned silversmithing from neighbouring Mexicans after their release from Fort Sumner in 1868, and a Mexican blacksmith, Nakai Tsosi, taught the craft to a Navajo, Atsidi Sani. ^[28]

Lowry (2002) on the first turquoise set in metal:

“A Zuni craftsman named Kineshde is believed to have been the first to add turquoise to the metal objects he made, thus creating a new art form.”
— Lowry (2002), p. 19 ^[29]

According to Lowry (2002, p. 20), after World War II the federal government set up programs to teach jewelry-making to Native American artisans, and J. C. "Zack" and Donald Zachary were recruited in the 1950s to establish one such school on the Cañoncito (now Tó Hajiilee) Navajo Reservation. ^[29]

Sharon and Robert Ashton, writing in the 1975 Turquoise Blue Book, dated the spread to the Rio Grande pueblos:

“By 1870 several men at Isleta were making bridles and crosses. By 1880 the craft was flourishing at Zuni, Acoma and Laguna.”
— Stacey (1975), p. 8 ^[30]

Clara Lee Tanner, writing in Ray Manley's 1979 Collecting Southwestern Indian Arts & Crafts, dated silver's arrival among the Hopi:

“Hopis inherited from their ancient ancestors all of the craft arts except silver which was introduced to them about 1890.”
— Manley (1979), p. 39 ^[31]

According to Welch (1973, p. 24), the Iroquois around Lake Ontario began to work silver about 1800, roughly half a century before the Navajo; before the American Revolution, Canadian traders had supplied them with silver brooches made by Canadian smiths. ^[32]

Welch (1973, p. 25) added that when the Oneida, an Iroquois nation, moved to northeast Wisconsin about 1822 they brought their silver skills with them and the Menomini learned from them, and that the northern Plains tribes began working silver about 1805. ^[32]

Grey Moustache told Adair (1944) about Atsidi Sani's sons:

“Atsidi Sani had four sons. All of these boys learned how to work iron from their father, before they were taken to Fort Sumner in 1864.”
— Adair (1944), p. 4 ^[33]

He named other pupils of Atsidi Sani for Adair (1944):

“Some other men who also learned the craft from Atsidi Sani were Smith Who Walks Around, Big Smith, Crying Smith, and Red Smith.”
— Adair (1944), p. 5 ^[33]

On when women joined the craft, Grey Moustache told Adair (1944):

“It was twenty years ago [c. 1918] when the Navajo women first began to make silver.”
— Adair (1944), p. 9 ^[33]

Adair (1944) on the crossing to Zuni:

“It was from him that the Zuñi first learned the art, when he set up a shop in their pueblo during the 1870's.”
— Adair (1944), p. 13 ^[33]

On the first turquoise setting, Adair (1944) limited the claim to one area:

“While Atsidi Chon may have been the first Navajo in the region of Sunrise Springs to set turquoise, one can not be sure that he was the first of all the Navajo to set the stone; that honor may be claimed for some other silversmith who lived a hundred miles away.”
— Adair (1944), p. 14 ^[33]

Tom Burnsides offered Adair a choice of first metal in 1938; Adair (1944) recorded why:

“He said that many Navajo smiths worked at copper or lead before they started on silver, because those metals were cheaper and easier to work.”
— Adair (1944), p. 73 ^[33]

Adair (1944) described how smiths then taught younger men:

“This is the way the smiths instruct the younger men, by showing them how something is done, then asking them to do the same thing.”
— Adair (1944), p. 77 ^[33]

And how a master used his helper, as Adair (1944) saw at Charlie Bitsui's bench:

“That is the way a master craftsman uses his apprentice. He gives him the work of melting and pounding the metal.”
— Adair (1944), p. 81 ^[33]

As of the late 1930s, Adair (1944) found that a Navajo who wanted to learn went first to a relative:

“Only if there are no silversmiths among his blood relatives or among his relatives by marriage, will he turn to an outsider for instruction.”
— Adair (1944), p. 87 ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 89), of fifty-two Navajo silversmiths whose teachers he recorded, fifty had learned from relatives and only two from nonrelatives. Fathers were the most common teachers of the forty men (sixteen), and husbands of the ten women (five). ^[33]

On women smiths, Adair (1944) wrote from his fieldwork of about 1938-40:

“Many Navajo women know how to make silver, but it has been only in the last thirty years that they have learned, and most of them live in the centers where there has been considerable commercialization of the craft.”
— Adair (1944), p. 88 ^[33]

Mary Burnsides, one of the few women Adair met who worked independently, told him, as Adair (1944) recorded:

“I learned to make silver from my husband, Goodluck.”
— Adair (1944), p. 88 ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 90), no payment passed between teacher and apprentice when they were relatives, unless the novice stayed on as a skilled helper. A nonrelative paid the teacher: in that era as much as forty dollars, or its value in goods, for long instruction, and a dollar or so, or a bracelet, for a short spell of watching. ^[33]

Adair (1944) also recorded the etiquette of learning by watching:

“Many smiths have learned the art in just that way, with no formal instruction of any sort, but it is considered dishonest if one smith watches another without telling him that he wants to learn.”
— Adair (1944), p. 91 ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 93), traders gave their best smiths large quantities of silver and encouraged them to teach their families, so that by the late 1930s certain areas had family 'outfits' of smiths: Chai Begay's near Danoff, the descendants of Atsidi Sani and his brothers near Crystal, the Goodluck outfit around Lupton, the Burnsides at Pine Springs, the Largos at Smith Lake, and Charlie Bitsui's family near Manuelito. ^[33]

Adair (1944) summed up the pattern:

“Since more silversmiths learn the art from their fathers than from any other relative, the craft tends to follow the male line of the family.”
— Adair (1944), p. 93 ^[33]

Lanyade told Adair (1944) that he alone learned from the Navajo smith:

“So he taught me how, and I was the only Zuñi to learn from him.”
— Adair (1944), p. 123 ^[33]

Lanyade told Adair (1944) whom he taught in turn:

“Finally I did teach one man to make silver. That man was a friend of mine by the name of Balawade.”
— Adair (1944), p. 125 ^[33]

Adair (1944) was careful about where Zuni turquoise setting came from:

“Whether the setting of turquoise spread to the rest of the pueblo from the independent invention of Keneshde, or diffused to the pueblo from the Navajo, is a moot question.”
— Adair (1944), p. 130 ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 128), Matilda Coxe Stevenson wrote in 1910 that the first setting of turquoise in silver, about 1880, was a ring made by a Navajo, but Adair thought the Zuni did not set stones that early, putting their first setting at about 1890. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 137), Horace Aiuli learned silversmithing from his father in 1924; his father's father, Hatsetsenane (Sneezing Man), was one of the first generation of Zuni smiths. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 142), Horace's cousins and fellow clansmen Raymond and Jerry Watson learned the craft as his helpers, and by the late 1930s were well-known smiths at Zuni. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 142), Okweene Neese and Benny Hamona, brothers of Horace's first wife, learned from him by watching and occasionally asking, and as close relatives paid him nothing, as a nonrelative might have had to. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 147), Okweene Neese in turn taught his wife the fundamentals of the craft, and she helped him when he was rushed with large orders. ^[33]

Writing in 1944 of the Zuni smiths he knew in 1940, Adair summed up how the craft was passed on:

“That is the way the Zuñi learns: by watching and then helping.”
— Adair (1944), p. 163 ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 162), of thirty-two Zuni smiths whose teachers he knew, twenty-seven had learned from relatives and five from non-relatives; the men tended to learn from a blood relative and the women from a relative by marriage, and women learned at an older age, usually after marriage. ^[33]

Lanyade told Adair (1944) that he did not set out to teach the Hopi:

“None of the Hopi men knew how to make silver at that time, and I didn't let them watch me at my work, because, if they learned how, they would no longer buy silver from me.”
— Adair (1944), p. 173 ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 187), silversmithing at Santa Clara went back to the 1880s, when a Mexican platero who had been making silver for San Ildefonso came to Santa Clara and three men learned from him. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 188), by about 1940 three younger brothers at Santa Clara had learned from their Navajo brother-in-law, the craft had reached San Ildefonso within the previous ten years, where the painter Awa Tsireh made some silver, and the one smith at Sia was a Hopi married to a Sia woman. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 187), Jemez learned the craft from the eastern Navajo at about the same time as Santa Ana, and by about 1940 had a single smith, the son of the man who learned it from the Navajo. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 184), Pablo Abeita of Isleta told him of an early smith, José Padilla, said to have been taken from the Navajo as a child and raised by Tomas Padilla, who learned silversmithing after watching a Mexican in El Paso make tin frames for santos. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 193), the Navajo learned to work iron about 1850. ^[33]

In his 1944 table of important dates, Adair gave the Navajo start in silver as a span, 1850-70:

“Navajo learned to work silver at some time during these two decades (the author favors the year 1868).”
— Adair (1944), p. 193 ^[33]

For the Zuni, Adair's 1944 table gives the year 1872:

“Zuñi learned to work silver: Lanyade learned from the Navajo smith, Atsidi Chon.”
— Adair (1944), p. 193 ^[33]

For the Hopi, Adair's 1944 table gives the year 1898:

“Sikyatala of First Mesa learned to make silver from Lanyade.”
— Adair (1944), p. 193 ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 193), the craft was taken up at Oraibi about 1904 and at Hotevilla about 1907. ^[33]

According to Adair (1944, p. 194), the Acoma first learned to make silver sometime between 1870 and 1890, Laguna about 1870, Santa Clara about 1880, Santa Ana about 1890, Santo Domingo about 1893 and San Ildefonso about 1930, while silver was made at Isleta in 1879 by immigrants from Laguna. ^[33]

According to Baxter (2000, p. 32), Juan Rey Churino (also spelled Churina), who moved from Laguna to Isleta Pueblo with fellow Laguna smith José Platero in 1879, seems to have been one of the creators of the Isleta Cross pendant necklace, also made manta pins and bent-wire earrings, taught the Isleta artist José Jaramillo around 1903, and moved to Sandia Pueblo in 1923, after which, according to his daughter, he made little silver. ^[34]

Baxter (2000) recorded one of Kenneth Begay's later students, the Navajo metalsmith Rain Parrish (born 1944):

“Parrish also studied jewelry-making with Kenneth Begay at Navajo Community College in 1971. In addition, she met and was influenced by Charles Loloma.”
— Baxter (2000), p. 129 ^[34]

Captain Henry L. Dodge listed his party in a letter of November 16, 1853, which Woodward (1946) printed in full:

“I have with me George Carter who is their blacksmith, a man of sterling worth and every inch a soldier—a Mexican silversmith, an assistant, Juan Anea, my interpreter, and two Mexican servants.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 15 ^[35]

Woodward (1946) himself treated the silversmith as unnamed and asked whether he was the Cassilio of later accounts:

“this unnamed smith (could he have been the Cassilio mentioned in later years?) was the one who taught Herrero Delgadito how to work bes lahk ai (white iron or silver).”
— Woodward (1946), p. 17 ^[35]

A Fort Wingate statement taken down by Frank Walker, printed in Woodward (1946), dates the Cubero teacher earlier:

“"Big Lipped Mexican" came from Cubero, N. M. in the 1870's and taught the Navajo silversmithing.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 71 ^[35]

Peshlakai Atsidi named his own partner, in the 1937 statement printed by Woodward (1946):

“He stated that they worked together, sharing their knowledge and that it was Dogache' who first found out how to make solder.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 73 ^[35]

In 1883, Matthews described the week two leading smiths spent working under his eye at Fort Wingate:

“I once engaged two of the best workmen in the tribe to come to Fort Wingate and work under my observation for a week. They put up their forge in a small outbuilding at night, and early next morning they were at work. Their labor was almost all performed while they were sitting or crouching on the ground in very constrained positions; yet I never saw men who worked harder or more steadily.”
— Matthews (1883), p. 176 ^[36]

On their hours and their pay, at 1880 rates, Matthews (1883) wrote:

“They often labored from twelve to fifteen hours a day, eating their meals with dispatch and returning to their toil the moment they had done. Occasionally they stopped to roll a cigarette or consult about their work, but they lost very few moments in this way. They worked by the job and their prices were such that they earned about two dollars a day each.”
— Matthews (1883), p. 176 ^[36]

In 1883, Matthews, the Army surgeon at Fort Wingate whose report is the earliest account of Navajo smiths in our library, wrote of the craft's origin:

“When and how the art of working metals was introduced among them I have not been able to determine; but there are many reasons for supposing that they have long possessed it; many believe that they are not indebted to the Europeans for it. Doubtless the tools obtained from American and Mexican traders have influenced their art.”
— Matthews (1883), p. 171 ^[36]

Matthews (1883) also recorded what white residents told him about the craft's recent progress:

“Old white residents of the Navajo country tell me that the art has improved greatly within their recollection; that the ornaments made fifteen years ago do not compare favorably with those made at the present time; and they attribute this change largely to the recent introduction of fine files and emery-paper.”
— Matthews (1883), p. 171 ^[36]

He weighed two possible sources for the first Navajo smiths, Mexico and the Pueblos, and in 1883 left the question open:

“From either of these sources the first smiths among the Navajos may have learned their trade”
— Matthews (1883), p. 171 ^[36]