Western Apache Material Culture

Cover of Western Apache Material Culture
Adoption Amount: $300
Category: Build and Access the Collection
Location: Vine Deloria, Jr. Library, National Museum of the American Indian

Western Apache material culture : the Goodwin and Guenther collections / / Alan Ferg, editor ; with contributions by William B. Kessel ... [et al.] ; photographs by Helga Teiwes.

Tucson: Published for Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona by University of Arizona Press, c1987.

Together, the Goodwin and Guenther Collections in the Arizona State Museum form the most significant collection of Apache cultural materials dating from the mid-1800s to 1985. In the early 1930s, Grenville Goodwin came to Arizona to attend prep school, but instead was drawn to the Apaches and spent his time studying their way of life. He gathered items from them, and earned the trust of knowledgeable elders who recreated things no longer made – all which he thoroughly documented, detailing their construction, meaning, and use. Edgar and Minnie Guenther were missionaries on the Fort Apache Reservation from 1911-1961. Their collection began with gifts; as their knowledge and interest in Apache crafts grew, they made selective purchases of newly made contemporary pieces. This volume details both collections, documents historical and cultural contexts of artifacts, and provides a story of how Goodwin and the Guenthers found their lives remarkably affected by the Apache people.

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