Big Smith — Navajo Silversmith
Big Smith was one of the first Navajo smiths, a worker in iron who also worked silver. John Adair's The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths prints the account of Grey Moustache, who learned silversmithing from Atsidi Sani around 1878 and named Big Smith among Atsidi Sani's other pupils: "All of these men were great craftsmen" (Adair 1944, p. 5).
Arthur Woodward's A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing carries two field accounts of him. Richard Van Valkenburgh's list of Navajo smiths of 1850 to 1900 places him with the ironsmiths: he lived at Fluted Rock and did some silversmithing (Woodward 1946, p. 64). Sam Tilden, naming the iron smiths who worked before the Navajo were taken to Hwelte (Bosque Redondo), gives his Navajo name, Atsidi Tso (Woodward 1946, p. 66).
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References
- Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. The Civilization of the American Indian Series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944.
- Woodward, Arthur. A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing. With field notes by Richard Van Valkenburgh. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 14, 2d ed. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, December 1946 (first edition 1938).
This profile is maintained in support of Native American silversmiths and compiled from published references. See something inaccurate, or want to add to it? Contact us.