Navaho Trading Days - by Elizabeth Compton Hegemann (Paperback)

About the Book

A collection of photographs and first-hand observations of life among the Navaho and Hopi in the early 20th century. "A most valuable historical resource."-American Indian Quarterly

Book Synopsis

Elizabeth Hegemann, born in Cincinnati in 1897, was an accomplished photographer and a woman who enjoyed adventure. These qualities along with her marriage to an Indian trader and living most of her adult life in Southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico allowed her to leave a significant record of the Southwest's American Indians during the 1920s and 1930s.

Hegemann's photographs document interaction between Anglos and Indians, ceremonial dances, trading post life, and archaeological monuments that have been altered by time. Her text recounts her travels around Navaho country, especially the northeastern portion of the Reservation. She comments on her meetings with John Galsworthy, Charles F. Lummis, William Randolph Hearst, and Will Rogers.

From the Back Cover

A collection of photographs and first-hand observations of life among the Navaho and Hopi in the early 20th century. A most valuable historical resource.-American Indian Quarterly

Review Quotes

." . . exceptional Navajo and Hopi coverage."

""Navaho Trading Days" is an excellent testimonial detailing cultural and social changes in one part of the Southwest."

""Navaho Trading Days" is an inherently fascinating discussion and a very welcome contribution to Native American Studies shelves."

"The best firsthand account anyone has written of life as an Indian trader. It is illustrated with hundreds of Hegemann's snapshots, which capture the Navajo reservation over a 15-year-period."

." . . The entire work is a fine relation of the Navajos' life in the period between the two world wars."