AN EXCEPTIONAL AND SCARCE INDIAN RESERVATION SNAPSHOT ALBUM
AN EXCEPTIONAL AND SCARCE INDIAN RESERVATION SNAPSHOT ALBUM
Armerding, Minnie and family. An exceptional snapshot album documenting an automobile trip cross-country from New Jersey to St. Louis, by a widow and her children to visit her older sister, Minnie Armerding at the Immanuel Mission to the Hualapais in Winslow, Arizona. 1941. Eighty (80) original silver gelatin snapshot photos and a few RPPC’s tipped-in at corners w/ old scotch tape, or black corners, nearly all annotated in ink manuscript alongside, or below, a few newspaper clippings, and National Park Service instructions and explanations for visiting the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest. The 80 original photos, most of which retain great contrast and definition capture Navajo, Laguna & Hopi children as students, women sheepherders, blanket weavers, visits to the Holcomb’s mission 53 miles West of Shiprock, and the Toreva Mission. 48 pp (unpaginated).] With 80 original silver gelatin snapshot photos and a few RPPC’s tipped-in at corners w/ old scotch tape, or black corners, nearly all annotated in ink manuscript alongside, or below, a few newspaper clippings, and National Park Service instructions and explanations for visiting the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest. Half-brown cloth over textured boards (wear & rubbing to fore-edges, corners, some bumping), still a VG exemplar, with most images having bright contrast and definition.
This original photo album captures the efforts of the Plymouth Brethren Immanuel Mission in Winslow, Arizona, led and overseen by Minnie Armerding, who had originally moved West with her brother and noted missionary educator Dr. Carl Armerding as early as July, 1921. The mission had begun with work by Horace Holcomb and his wife, aided by Carl Armerding who at the time was the chaplain to the local Tuberculosis Sanitariums overseen by the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches. Initially the local Navajo leader “Brown Hat” had refused to give permission for another mission, but by 1925 the Immanuel Mission was established. Later a chapel was built in 1934 where Gospel Meetings, Bible Studies, and Sunday Schools attended by Laguna, Hopi & Navajo Peoples children. The growth of the Mission from the 1920’s to World War II was significantly influenced by the forced conversion of Native American Children, confinement at Mission and BIA boarding schools, and forced assimilation policies under John Collier’s “Indian New Deal” program. Photos in this album show the Navajo women had retained their rights as sheepherders despite opposition from the BIA, which had also denied local Navajo, Laguna, and Hopi to have social, religious, or political oversight of their peoples. Photos included here depict young Native American children at the Immanuel Mission Daily Vacation Bible School, the Junior Girls, including their teacher Gladys Shortey who made a Navajo doll for Maria; Minnie’s home and offices, as well as Plymouth Brethren women missionaries training at the Sunbright Mission, including Anita Nock, Lolita Stickler at Toreva, Mary Murray of Oraibi. Other photos show a Navajo woman at Miss Holcomb’s Mission weaving a traditional rug while seated in front of her loom, and another shows a similar scene in Mrs. Ward’s cottage at Flagstaff. Of particular interest is the photo capturing the Hopi artist, Willard Sakiestewa Sr. (1904-1992) of the Snake and Yucca Clans at Oraibi, AZ well remembered for his distinctive Kachina dolls, often with scenes painted on the bases. Maria notes in the caption that his wife “is Navajo -- a Christian before Willard -- [he] was formerly a medicine man, witch doctor, snake charmer.” Another photo captures weaver Dora Peshlakai, well known for her rug weavings, and daughter Doris, standing next to Alta Yohrman.
RPPC’s depict Flagstaff, AZ from the air, the Lowell Observatory, winter at Mt. Eldon, and Native American ruins at the Grand Canyon. Min Armerding (1890-1985) continued to oversee the Immanuel Mission until 1961 when she requested her niece Dorothy Morris (d. 1999), and husband Raymond Morris (1926-2018) active Plymouth Brethren Missionaries, previously in Zaire took over, and she retired to live with her brother George Armerding, at the time the owner of the Western Book & Tract business originally established by Dr. H.I. Ironside in San Bernardino, CA. Maria herder (1896-1991) worked as a teacher and active member of the Calvinist United Reformed Church in New Jersey until her death. See: Greg Staley, A Brief History of Immanuel Mission (1996-1997); Doug Engle, Brethren Pedia (2023); William Katerberg, Navajo Voices and Christian Reformed Missions, Origins, Vol. XXXIX, No. 2 (2021)
