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The Heard Library and Archives: An Incredible Resource
BY DIANA F. PARDUE | CHIEF CURATOR
When I begin research for any Heard Museum exhibition or publication, the first place I go to is the Heard’s Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives. Depending on the nature of the project, my first stop might be the Native American Artists Resource Collection, which we more informally call the “Artist Files.” Each of these more than 28,000 folders holds myriad pages that might include gallery announcements, copies of newspaper articles, artists’ business cards and, if one is really lucky, a copy of an interview with the artist.
In 2007 I had the opportunity to curate two jewelry exhibitions; one opened in February, on Valentine’s Day, and the other opened later in the fall. Both were accompanied by publications. The first exhibition was a retrospective for jewelers Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird. A few years before the exhibition opened, and before my meetings with Yazzie and Gail, I began with the Heard’s Artist Files. Because Yazzie and Gail had been working since the early 1970s and had received recognition for their great works for a number of years, their Artist File was filled with copies of newspaper articles that included interviews with them and quotes from them as well as a range of gallery announcements with photos of their jewelry from different years. Yazzie and Gail have maintained meticulous records of the jewelry they have made through the decades. They were integral to the development of both the exhibition and the publication, and it was possible for them not only to contribute information, but also to review everything that was written. In recent years, Richard Chavez agreed to an exhibition and publication at the Heard. Again, the Artist Files became the research starting point. Chavez also maintained meticulous records of the jewelry he had made and he was willing to review all details for the exhibition and book.
Around this same time, I had an opportunity to work on another book, titled Contemporary Southwestern Jewelry. One suggestion I made to the publisher, Gibbs Smith, was that we include a chapter in the book that featured emerging artists. That topic would also frame the fall exhibition, which we titled Young Jewelers. The first chapter of the book discusses some of the jewelers, such as Charles Loloma, who had a major impact on contemporary American Indian jewelry. Several areas of the Heard library proved to be great resources once more. In the archives, there are scrapbooks that were put together by the Heard Museum Guild historians. In one of the scrapbooks, I found a newspaper clipping with a photo of young Charles Loloma announcing that he would be attending the first Heard Fair in 1959 and he would have pottery. This was around the time period that Loloma began exploring jewelry design and fabrication, and ironically the photo shows him holding a tufa stone used for casting jewelry.
sharedimages The Innovative Jewelry ofYazzie Johnson & Gail Bird Shared Front Cover10.23 10/23/06 1:35 PM Page 1
DIANA F. PARDUE
Because there was an archive of photographs that Craig Smith had taken for the collection and for the Heard Shop, and because he was available to take more photos as needed, it was possible to gather photos of a range of contemporary jewelry works. I decided to organize the book as a discussion of jewelry techniques, but I wanted to include biographical information for as many artists as possible. Fortunately, the Guild played an important role in this process, too. Artists applying for admission to the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market have completed application forms, and many of the forms are held in the individual Artist Files. In some years, the forms were designed with additional questions about birth year and birthplace as well as a question asking how the artist learned their craft. These answers were helpful in drafting some interesting but brief biographical information for each jeweler. Whenever possible, I sent the individual bios to each artist to review, and with their responses I could correct any previous misinformation. In some instances, they provided clarification on their birthplace or specific details about the process of developing their work.
For some topics, the first stop has been the vast selection of books in the Heard Library. I am often amazed when the Library contains a rare volume or pamphlet, and seldom do I have to go to another library to find a particular publication. When Norman Sandfield and I began working on the book Native American Bolo Ties: Vintage and Contemporary Artistry, we found only one book about bolo ties. Norman began online research using newspapers.com and other sources, and in the process he gathered data that he later provided to the Library. Similarly, when Norman and I began research about artist Awa Tsireh, we first went to the Artist Files and next to Jeanne Snodgrass King’s book American Indian Painters: A Biographical Directory. King’s 1968 book lists museums that had paintings by Awa Tsireh in their collections. We needed to determine which museums had also collected his silverwork. I began emailing the various museums to determine their holdings—both paintings and silverwork—and Norman undertook his extensive online research. Our research led us to visit other archives in New Mexico, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Delaware, but our first efforts started at the Heard.
These are just a few examples of how the Heard Library and Archives has served as an incredible resource. Heard exhibitions and publications have been enriched by the vast resources that are literally at our fingertips.
