Curious about curios?

After the 1880 arrival of the railroad in New Mexico, Pueblo and Navajo artisans collaborated with non-Indian dealers to invent artifacts that had no purpose but to satisfy the demand for Indian goods. From its inception, the curio trade comprised cottage industries, retail spaces -- and a vast mail-order business. The rich, complex and controversial story of this phenomenon will be told in From the Railroad to Route 66: The Native American Curio Trade in New Mexico, an exhibit scheduled for display from Sunday, May 18, until April 19, 2009 at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe.