Southwest Silverwork, 1850-1940

Exploring rarely seen works from the Heard Museum’s collection, Southwest Silverwork, 1850-1940 documents nearly a century of the evolution of Native silverwork from its earliest years through the decades prior to World War II. A number of unique pieces of Navajo and Pueblo jewelry and other silver items from the museum are on view, tracing stylistic and technical developmental advances and the effect those changes had on silverwork produced in the Southwest.​

To stay current with ongoing studies, the exhibit also re-examines and update some of the previously published writings on the subject with the expectation that the exhibit will help answer questions on how to accurately date Southwestern jewelry and other silver items as well as where pieces fit in a chronological history of the craft.

Credit: Overview from museum website