Collectors of Navajo rugs: An analysis and comparison of the Marjorie Merriweather Post and Washington Matthews Smithsonian Collection

Navajo blankets and rugs collected by Washington Matthews and Marjorie Merriweather Post are now held by the Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Matthews, medical doctor and anthropologist, actively collected Navajo blankets; to preserve them in museums and gather knowledge about them in publications. His goal was to learn about the Navajos before they merged into dominate American culture. Post, philanthropist, art collector, and socialite, collected Navajo blankets and rugs as status symbols, decorations and souvenirs when they were marketed by traders and weavers. Her collections once exhibited at her estates are now exhibited at the Hillwood Museum and the Museum of Natural History, in Washington, D.C. This thesis is about the collectors, their collections and why they collected Navajo blankets and rugs. Tables and photographs illustrate the collection