Dine (Navajo) child

Victoria in California tagged me and sent this lovely card of a Dine woman and child. I had never seen the photo before and its new to my collection! The image is titled Indian Baby Carriage and easily traced to images held in the Library of Congress. The photo was taken around 1914 and is attributed to the studio of William Pennington & Wesley Rowland. The LOC has a number of Navajo photos with their copyright.

Sand Painting

My aunt & uncle traveled to the southwest as they often do and picked up some nice Navajo postcards for me. This one is quite touristy...it shows Navajos making a sand painting in Monument Valley, Arizona (where director John Ford made many John Wayne movies in the 1950s).
"Sand painting" is actually part of a healing ceremony: minerals are ground up and then used to illustrate religious beings who bring blessings to the Earth and the Dine (Navajo). The ceremony is held inside a traditional Navajo home (hogan) with only family members present. The patient sits on the artwork while the healers sing and pray; at the end it is all swept away.
Small versions can be purchased in art galleries and tourist shops; colored sand is applied to a wooden board illustrating many of these spiritual beings called Yei.

Hubble Trade Post

while not exactly a Native American image, this card features the famous Hubble Trading Post, located at Ganado Arizona and now a Natl Park Service historic site. For many years Navajo people exchanged their woven rugs & blankets for dry goods, food, yarn, and tools here. There is an informative web site at http://www.nps.gov/hutr/index.htm
Navajo artists offer weaving demonstrations and I'm sure they sell lost of great stuff there even today!
The museum has 112 Hopi pots, 170 Navajo rugs and 60 Navajo concho belts; many were probably acquired in trade or purchase by the Hubbels.
Big thanks to Adobe, a Postcrosser in Arizona for sending this card!