The history of the emergence of pottery figures in Pueblo art and the cultural significance of these creations.

"This first documentation of the Storyteller phenomenon contains a wealth of information for scholars, collectors, and general readers. Barbara Babcock's text links the invention of the Storyteller to Pueblo figurative tradition, traces the revival of figurative ceramics, makes stylistic comparisons, and discusses the artistic contributions of individual artists and Pueblos. The book is impressively illustrated and features a large section of color plates by award-winning photographer GuyMonthan. Photographs of Storytellers are enhanced by descriptive captions and quotations from the artists compiled by Doris Monthan, who has also provided biographical charts of the artists. Her listing of 233 potters who make Storytellers and related figures--in addition to 146 family members who are also potters--constitutes one of the most extensive documentations of Southwest Indian potters available in a single volume."--From front cover flap.

The Tom & Charlotte Mittler Collection

The comprehensive book on Indian petroglyphs in the Southwest.

In 1964, Helen Cordero of Cochiti pueblo created the first storyteller, a clay image of her grandfather with five children clinging to him. Here the reader will find the most extensive collection of storytellers ever gathered in print. Over 400 pieces by nearly 150 artists are shown in full color, and organized by pueblo.

The rich religious beliefs and ceremonials of the Pueblo Indians of Arizona and New Mexico were first synthesized and compared by ethnologist Elsie Clews Parsons. Prodigious research and a quarter-century of fieldwork went into her 1939 encyclopedic two-volume work, Pueblo Indian Religion. The author gives an integrated picture of the complex religious and social life in the pueblos, including Zuni, Acoma, Laguna, Taos, Isleta, Sandia, Jemez, Cochiti, Santa Clara, San Felipe, Santa Domingo, San Juan, and the Hopi villages. In volume I she discusses shelter, social structure, land tenure, customs, and popular beliefs. Parsons also describes spirits, cosmic notions, and a wide range of rituals. The cohesion of spiritual and material aspects of Pueblo culture is also apparent in volume II, which presents an extensive body of solstice, installation, initiation, war, weather, curing, kachina, and planting and harvesting ceremonies, as well as games, animal dances, and offerings to the dead. A review of Pueblo ceremonies from town to town considers variations and borrowings. Today, a half century after its original publication, Pueblo Indian Religion remains central to studies of Pueblo religious life.

Native American pottery of the U.S. southwest has long been considered collectible and today can fetch many thousands of dollars per piece. Authors, collectors, and dealers Carol and Allen Hayes provide readers with a concise overview of the pottery of the southwest, from its origins in the Bastketmaker period (around 400 AD) to the Spanish entrada (1540 AD-1879 AD) to today's new masters. Readers will find dozens of color images depicting pottery from the Zuni, Hopi, Anasazi, and many other peoples. Maps help readers identify where these master potters and their peoples lived (i.e. the Pueblo a tribal group or area). Pottery of the Southwest will serve as a useful introduction as well as a lovely guide for enthusiasts.

One of the few bright spots in the conduct of government toward the native people of North America.

Pueblo myths and folklore about their animal gods: badgers, pronghorns, deer, buffaloes, elk, mountain sheep, rabbits, coyotes, bears, and mountain lions.