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Woman's classic two-piece dress
Native American, Diné [Navajo]
1840–60
Object Place: United States, Southwest
Medium/Technique
Wool tapestry weave with interlock joins
Dimensions
125 x 81.5 cm (49 3/16 x 32 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds by exchange from the Turner Sargent Collection—Bequest of Mrs. Turner Sargent (Amelia J. Holmes)
Accession Number99.147
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsCostumes
DescriptionComplete woman's two-piece dress with back and front panel stitched together; black central field with broad red and narrow black bands at top and bottom; on the widest red bands are diamond designs made of blocks
Provenance1899, probably sold by the artist to Mary Louise Eldridge (b. 1849 - d. 1933), Jewett, NM [see note]; 1899, sold by Mary Louise Eldridge to the MFA for $15. (Accession Date: October 30, 1899)
NOTE: When the dress was accessioned it was said to have belonged previously to the woman who wove it, "a very old Navajo woman" reportedly a hundred years old.
Mrs. Eldridge began working in New Mexico in 1891 for the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1894, she was made field matron for the Women's National Indian Association, whose work in New Mexico was often funded by the chapter in Cambridge, MA. By 1898 Mrs. Eldridge was the superintendent for all Navajo work; she donated land to build a hospital in Jewett, with funds donated from members in Boston and Cambridge. In 1901, the newsletter of the WNIA (The Indian's Friend) began publishing a notice stating that anyone who wished to purchase Native American baskets or other goods could order them through Mrs. Eldridge, among others. See Valerie Sherer Mathes, ed., Women's National Indian Association: A History (Albuquerque, 2015), 153-172.
NOTE: When the dress was accessioned it was said to have belonged previously to the woman who wove it, "a very old Navajo woman" reportedly a hundred years old.
Mrs. Eldridge began working in New Mexico in 1891 for the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1894, she was made field matron for the Women's National Indian Association, whose work in New Mexico was often funded by the chapter in Cambridge, MA. By 1898 Mrs. Eldridge was the superintendent for all Navajo work; she donated land to build a hospital in Jewett, with funds donated from members in Boston and Cambridge. In 1901, the newsletter of the WNIA (The Indian's Friend) began publishing a notice stating that anyone who wished to purchase Native American baskets or other goods could order them through Mrs. Eldridge, among others. See Valerie Sherer Mathes, ed., Women's National Indian Association: A History (Albuquerque, 2015), 153-172.