Navajo Silversmiths Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-1881, Government Printing Office — Story, Setting & Ideas

Tools and Working Conditions

Matthews contrasts the Navajo smith's temporary forge, built on the ground in a low hut, with the permanent forge of Pueblo Indians, who work standing in spacious houses. Despite these disadvantages, he states that Navajo ornaments are generally considered equal or superior to Pueblo work. The smiths use few and simple tools: a stone anvil, hammers, tongs, files, and emery-paper. They lack dividers, squares, or measuring instruments, relying on the eye to find centers and cut shapes. Matthews observes that they often use scissors as compasses, a makeshift approach that underscores their resourcefulness.

The report notes significant material waste: in one article, 120 grains of silver were lost out of 836, a 14 percent loss from filing, polishing, and oxidation. Clippings are saved and remelted, but the metal carried off in dust is not recovered. This inefficiency contrasts with the skill displayed in the final products.

Techniques for Making Hollow Beads

Matthews provides a detailed step-by-step account of how Navajo smiths create hollow silver beads. They begin by beating a Mexican dollar to the required thinness, annealing it frequently. A disk is then cut using a pattern traced with an awl, and the planchets are formed into hemispheres using a matrix and die, working gradually through larger cavities. The edges are leveled, and a hole is made by driving a file shank through the convex surface, leaving a projecting neck.

The hemispheres are strung on a stout wire in pairs, secured with finer wire, and the seams are coated with a mixture of borax, saliva, and silver. All beads are soldered at once in the forge, then finished by filing, polishing, and blanching. This method, requiring about two and a half hours for filing and rubbing, demonstrates a systematic, collaborative process that maximizes efficiency despite limited tools.

Design and Symbolism

Matthews emphasizes the Navajo smiths' fertility in design, noting that powder-chargers are all graceful but no two alike unless specially ordered. Bracelets and rings show great variety. Bridle ornaments, consisting of broad silver bands that nearly conceal the leather, are popular but not particularly handsome in his view. Leather belts studded with large silver plates are favorite items, often containing metal worth forty to fifty dollars.

The cross is a common motif, worn on necklaces. Matthews reports that it is not intended as a Christian symbol but represents the morning star, though the lengthened lower limb may be copied from Christian crosses. He also notes the smiths' ingenuity in working from models and drawings of unfamiliar objects, indicating adaptability and openness to new influences.

Matthews's report is valuable for its concrete, observational detail, avoiding broad generalizations. Readers should note that the excerpts cover only the first part of the work; later sections may include additional illustrations and descriptions. The text's strength lies in its specific accounts of technique and material culture, grounded in the author's direct engagement with the smiths and their work. It serves as a primary source for understanding late 19th-century Navajo silverwork.

I keep thinking about Matthews watching silversmiths turn raw coin into patterned crosses, patient and unhurried, and it reminds me of leafing through The "Switzerland of America": Lehigh Valley Railroad — Story, Setting & Ideas years ago—another record of people shaping a landscape to their hands. Both feel like whispers from a vanished afternoon, where the work itself was the quiet point.