P
established to “recover, maintain, and develop” In-
dian art. Under Dunn’s tutelage, Santa Fe students,
many in grade school, are taught to paint scenes of
Indian life.
Students are encouraged to produce work in
the “Studio style,” in which flat, colorful figures
are set against an empty or nearly empty back-
ground. This mode of representation will become
known as “Traditional Indian Style,” although
it draws little from actual traditional Indian art.
Studio-style paintings will become enormously
popular with non-Indian collectors. The Studio
will also become well known for instructing many
of the most prominent Native American artists
of the late 20th century, including Allen Houser,
Oscar Howe, and Pablita Velarde. (See also entry
for 1903.)
September
The first Southwest Indian Fair is held.
In conjunction with the Caddo County Fair, mem-
bers of the Comanche, Kiowa-Apache, Caddo,
Wichita, and Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribes or-
ganize the Southwest Indian Fair in Anadarko,
Oklahoma. Like most county fairs of the time, the
event is a showcase for the participants’ talents in
domestic arts (such as canning and cooking), farm-
ing, and raising livestock. The fair, however, also
features extensive displays of traditional Indian arts
and crafts.
Renamed the American Indian Exposition in
1935, the fair will become an annual event attract-
ing thousands of Indians and non-Indians each
year. By the late 20th century, it will be owned and
operated by 15 Plains tribes and will focus on exhi-
bitions of Indian art, song, and dance.
1933John C. Collier becomes the commissioner
of Indian affairs.
Sociologist and executive secretary of the Ameri-
can Indian Defense Association (see entry for MAY
1923), John C. Collier is chosen by Secretary of
the Interior Harold Ickes to head the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA). The appointment signals a
new era for the BIA. A political progressive, Col-
lier opposes the Assimilationist policies of the
past, particularly the policy of Allotment. He
instead supports government efforts to revitalize
Indian cultures, settle Indian land claims, help re-
vive tribal governments, protect religious freedom
for Native Americans, and fund economic devel-
opment in Indian communities. Collier’s vision
of federal Indian policy will be set into law with
the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act (see
entry for JUNE 18, 1934).“If we can relieve the Indian of
the unrealistic and fatal allot-
ment system, if we can provide
him with land and the means to
work the land; if, through group
organization and tribal incor-
poration, we can give him a real
share in the management of
his own affairs, he can develop
normally in his own natural
environment.”
—Commissioner of Indian Affairs
John C. Collier in his annual
report for 1933The U.S. government inaugurates a
livestock reduction program on the Navajo
(Dineh) reservation.
The United States becomes concerned about the
erosion of the Navajo Indian Reservation when
the amount of silt from the eroded lands in the
Colorado River threatens the completion of Boul-
der Dam. The erosion is due to overgrazing by the
Navajo’s (Dineh) vast herds of sheep, horses, and