Ramoncita Sandoval, Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo) Man's ceremonial shirt, circa 1989. Pendleton wool fabric embroidered with commercial wool yarn. Gift of Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson in memory of Kate Peck Kent.

From November 15, 2008, through May 7, 2009, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian will exhibit Pueblo Indian Embroidery from the Kate Peck Kent Memorial Collection.

Among the Wheelwright Museum’s most significant holdings are textiles and archives commemorating the life and work of scholar Kate Peck Kent. Beginning in 1937, when she analyzed cotton textile fragments from Montezuma Castle National Monument, Kent established a reputation as the leading authority on southwestern Native American textiles, and as a dedicated and beloved teacher.

Kent also served as a trustee of the Wheelwright, and when she passed away in 1987, the museum initiated a memorial fund for the systematic acquisition of Pueblo Indian textiles. The Wheelwright also received outright donations of textiles from numerous donors, and in 1988 Kent’s family donated her papers and library. The embroidered garments in this gallery represent a portion of the materials still being gathered in Kent’s memory.

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