Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Laurence R. Blair and Mary Ellen Blair photographs relating to Nampeyo and Thomas V. Keam

Online Media

Catalog Data

Creator:
Blair, Laurence R. (collector and photographer)  Search this
Photographer:
Hood Museum of Art  Search this
Collector:
Blair, Mary Ellen  Search this
Names:
Keam, Thomas V.  Search this
Nampeyo, ca. 1856-1942  Search this
Stephen, Alexander MacGregor, d. 1894  Search this
Extent:
5 Copy prints
5 Color prints
4 Color slides
Culture:
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New  Search this
Hopi Pueblo  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Copy prints
Color prints
Color slides
Photographs
Place:
England
Hopi Indian Reservation (Ariz.)
Arizona
Date:
circa 1915, 1984-1986
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs relating to Nampeyo and her pottery, and Thomas V. Keam's life. Includes photographs made by Laurence Blair in the church graveyard at Truro, England, where Keam was buried; the house in Truro where he died; and a copy of a portrait, possibly the last made of Keam. The collection also includes images of the birthplace of A. M. Stephen in Edinburgh and his grave in Keams Canyon, Arizona. Two photographs show pottery made by Nampeyo, which is now in the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, and an additional photograph depicts Nampeyo with members of the Polacca family at the Tom Polacca Memorial at Hopi Pueblo. There is also an image of Nampeyo's eldest daughter Annie Lesou Healing with three other women (Rachel Healing Namingha, Priscilla Namingha Shamie, and Lydia Healing).
Biographical/Historical note:
Laurence and Mary Ellen Blair were historical researchers and authors. In 1999, they published a book on Nampeyo, entitled The Legacy of a Master Potter: Nampeyo and Her Descendants. The book detailed the life and work of Iris Nampeyo (ca. 1860-1942), a potter who lived at Hopi in Arizona. During the 1870s and 1880s, she sold her work at a local trading post operated by Thomas Keam, an English-born trader who worked with both Hopi and Navajo craftspeople.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 87-35
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photographs of Nampeyo can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 59, and the BAE historical negatives.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Museum of the American Indian, and Department of Anthropology hold examples of Nampeyo pottery.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds correspondence from Thomas Keam regarding his pottery collection (SIA RU000189).
The Peabody Museum at Harvard University and the Cline Library at Northern Arizona University hold photographs and artifacts donated by Keam.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Copy prints of photographs held by Royal Cornwall Art Institute and Dartmouth College's Hood Museum of Art cannot be copied. Copies may be obtained from these repositories.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo Lot 87-35, Laurence R. Blair and Mary Ellen Blair photographs relating to Nampeyo and Thomas V. Keam, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NAA.PhotoLot.87-35
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3474f469d-4360-49eb-a427-a0b7f3745a68
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-naa-photolot-87-35