Vander Wagen Traders of Zuni: History & the Wallace Store

The Vander Wagens (also spelled Vanderwagen) are a trading family at Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. Paula A. Baxter names them among the Southwest "trader families" that "have carried on businesses over several generations" (Baxter 2000, p. 82). Zuni jewelers sold to them: Bryant Waatsa Sr. "sold to all the old-time Zuni traders, including Ed Kelsey, the Vanderwagens, and C. G. Wallace" (Bahti 2007, p. 190). In 1958, Wallace "sold the Zuni store to trader Richard Vanderwagen" (Hougart 2022, p. 373). This was never one firm. Different family members ran different stores, and each source below says which one it means where it can.

Founding

Our books don't record when the family began trading. The family's own accounts, published online, give two sets of dates:

• The Inn at Halona's history page says Andrew Vander Wagen, "born in Friesland province in northern Holland in 1868, arrived in Zuni on October 11, 1897, along with his wife, Effa Hofma Vander Wagen", and that "Andrew and Effa opened their first trading post in 1903" and in 1910 bought the store later named Halona Plaza (halona.com, accessed 2026-09-28).
• Esther Vanderwagen, who married into the family in 1949, told Perry Null Trading that Effa and Andrew "in 1896 went to Zuni, NM from Michigan to do missionary work" and "In 1900 they opened Vanderwagen Trading in Zuni" (Perry Null Trading, 2020, accessed 2026-09-28).

We give both and don't choose between them. By either account the family was trading at Zuni by about 1900. The Halona page adds that Bernard J. Vander Wagen, Andrew and Effa's eighth child, "became a second generation trader in the early 1930s", and that the business marked its history "in 2010 with a Centennial Event" (halona.com, accessed 2026-09-28).

The stores

• At Zuni, near Kelsey's. Margery Bedinger records an older Zuni landmark on the site of one family store. Mrs. Margaret Lewis of Zuni identified a shop "on the south side of the river, just across the road from Kelsey's trading post" as that of "Kuwishti, silverworker and also the village blacksmith. This shop is located where the Vanderwagon store now is." (Bedinger 1973, p. 131). That "now" is the time of her account, not today. Bedinger doesn't say which family member ran that store. See also Kelsey Trading Company.
• The former Wallace store. "In 1958 Wallace sold the Zuni store to trader Richard Vanderwagen" (Hougart 2022, p. 373). For the store's earlier history, see C. G. Wallace.
• Other shops. Esther Vanderwagen said she and her husband Ernie "owned or were co-owners in several different shops. The Vanderwagen store (White Water Trading Post), a store in Zuni, and Gallup Pawn." (Perry Null Trading, 2020, accessed 2026-09-28). The town of Vanderwagen, New Mexico, takes the family's name. When a book or a bio gives Vanderwagen, New Mexico, as a place, it often means the town, not the traders.

The artists who sold to them

Zuni jewelers' own accounts, recorded by Mark Bahti in Silver & Stone, are the best record of the family's trade:

• Dennis Edaakie and his sister Elizabeth sold their lapidary work to "Vanderwagen and C. G. Wallace", and "They had Navajos do" the silver settings (Bahti 2007, p. 44). Later he was paid "half cash and half due bill [trade credit]" (Bahti 2007, p. 46). His account is told more fully on our C. G. Wallace page.
• Bryant Waatsa Sr. "worked mostly on a special-order basis" and "furnished his own turquoise and silver when filling the orders" (Bahti 2007, p. 190).

Neither account names which family member or store was the buyer.

Marks and what to look for

Our sources record no Vander Wagen shop mark. Baxter's Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry credits seven of its photographs "Courtesy of the VanderWagen Trading Company". They show jewelry dated by caption from "ca. 1930s–1940s" to "ca. 1970s", including "A silver 'blank' or 'form' ready for the inlay of stonework, ca. 1970s" (Baxter 2000, pp. xxxi, xxxvii, 55, 68, 107, 114, 119). Those credits tell you who owned the pieces when they were photographed. They don't say who made or first sold them. Baxter's "trading post" entry is illustrated with an "Interior of a trading post in the Gallup, New Mexico, area, 1970s. Courtesy VanderWagen Trading Company." (Baxter 2000, p. 180). The post isn't named.

Edaakie's account is a useful caution: a Zuni stone setting could get its silver from a Navajo smith at the trader's request (Bahti 2007, p. 44). A traded piece may have more than one maker.

Legacy

The Vander Wagens appear in the record through the people who sold to them, not through their own mark. Zuni artists name them beside Kelsey and Wallace as the traders of their day (Bahti 2007, pp. 44, 190). Our sources don't say which family stores are still open. For the wider story of the region's posts, see our history of trading posts.

Sources

1. Bahti, Mark. Silver & Stone: Profiles of American Indian Jewelers. 2007. pp. 44, 46, 190.
2. Baxter, Paula A., with Allison Bird-Romero. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry. 2000. pp. xxxi, xxxvii, 55, 68, 82, 107, 114, 119, 180.
3. Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. 1973. p. 131.
4. Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks. 5th ed., 2022. p. 373.
5. The Inn at Halona. "History." halona.com/about/history/, accessed 2026-09-28. (Family history; founding dates.)
6. Perry Null Trading. "History of Zuni Trading Posts: Esther Vanderwagon." August 27, 2020. turquoisetraders.com, accessed 2026-09-28. (Founding dates and the family's shops.)
7. Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. The Civilization of the American Indian Series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1944.

Part of our Southwest Jewelry Business Directory.