INVENTING THE SOUTHWEST
Few people
realize that a restaurant and hotel chain played a key role in
marketing Indian art as early as the 1880s. An exhibit to run
through April 1997, at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz., explores
how the Fred Harvey Company influenced the art of the Southwest’s
Indians and shaped tourism in the area. By 1901, the Harvey chain
owned dozens of dining cars and hotels along the region’s rail
lines. To lure more tourists, company founder Fred Harvey asked
local Indians to make souvenirs that catered to travelers’ tastes:
lighter-weight jewelry, miniature pots, baskets and colorful
textiles. Eventually, the company began producing its own
collectibles: postcards, lantern slides, brochures, playing cards,
menu covers and books, all depicting the Southwest and its native
peoples. These artworks and mementos – including several hundred
postcards – traveled east and forever shaped people’s view of the
West. The Heard Museum exhibit also includes rare Indian art
collected by a spin-off company of the chain.
For more information about the exhibit, Inventing the Southwest:
The Fred Harvey Company and Native American Art, or locations it
will eventually travel to, including the Albuquerque Museum and
Denver Art Museum, contact Juliet Martin at the Heard Museum,
602/251-0232.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Inventing the Southwest.
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