Zuni Dick — Zuni / Santo Domingo (sources differ) Jeweler
Zuni Dick was a beadmaker who drilled turquoise by hand. Paula A. Baxter's Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry records that at the start of the twentieth century he "was well known for teaching turquoise grinding and shaping for personal adornment," and that he often appears in the photographs of visiting ethnographers at Zuni Pueblo (Baxter 2000, p. 192).
The camera found him at the pump drill, more than once. A lantern slide reproduced by Philip Chambless and Mike Ryan's Turquoise in America shows him hand drilling turquoise beads, circa 1920 (Chambless and Ryan 2021, p. 29). Baxter prints a Frasher photograph of him at the pump drill at Zuni Pueblo, ca. 1935 (Baxter 2000, p. 144), and Joe Dan and Joe P. Lowry's Turquoise Unearthed captions him "Jeweler Zuni Dick, ca. 1935" (Lowry 2002, p. 19). Sheila Tryk's Santa Fe Indian Market reproduces a photograph of him showing "how holes in beads were drilled before power tools were available" (Tryk 1993, p. 51).
Field Notes
The books do not agree on his home. Baxter places him at Zuni Pueblo and photographs him there (Baxter 2000, pp. 144, 192), and Gregory Schaaf's American Indian Jewelry I lists him as Zuni, resident at Zuni Pueblo (Schaaf 2003, p. 138); Tryk names him Santo Domingo (Tryk 1993, p. 51). Both are printed, so both stand here, credited, until a source settles it.
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References
- Baxter, Paula A., with Allison Bird-Romero. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry: A Guide to History, People, and Terms. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 2000.
- Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One: The Great American Turquoise Rush, 1890–1910. Revised first edition. Callais Press, 2021.
- Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise Unearthed: An Illustrated Guide. Photography by Mark Nohl. Tucson, AZ: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2002.
- Tryk, Sheila. Santa Fe Indian Market: Showcase of Native American Art. Photography by Mark Nohl; introduction by Allan Houser. Santa Fe, NM: Tierra Publications, in cooperation with SWAIA, 1993.
- Schaaf, Gregory, with Angie Yan Schaaf. American Indian Jewelry I: 1,200 Artist Biographies, ca. 1800-present. American Indian Art Series, Vol. 5. Santa Fe: CIAC Press, 2003.
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