Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Thomas Varker Keam: Indian Trader

Thomas Varker Keam: Indian Trader

Graves, Laura
Brugge, David M.

Paperback

Business BiographiesNative American History19th Century United States History

ISBN10: 0806148594
ISBN13: 9780806148595
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: Jul 15 2015
Pages: 366
Weight: 0.92
Height: 0.82 Width: 5.25 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
Thomas Varker Keam owned and operated a trading post in Keams Canyon, Arizona Territory, from 1874 to 1902. He was the first trader to develop American Indian arts and crafts as part of his business and the first to suggest that Native artists modify their techniques to increase sales. Keam had a major impact on the evolution of Hopi pottery.

Involved in early archaeological work in the Southwest, Keam was the first trader to develop lucrative contacts with museum curators and anthropologists. He sold enormous collections to the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum, and the Peabody Museum, as well as several European institutions.

An advocate for the Indians, Keam represented the Hopis and Navajos in confrontations with the U.S. government over civilizing programs between 1869 and 1902, when the Indians tried to maintain their political and cultural independence. Thomas Varker Keam revised Indian trading so that he and American Indian artists profited.

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