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VERNA C. GREEN : 1920s ORIGINAL SCRAPBOOK AND PHOTO DIARY OF A TEACHER'S TIME SPENT WITH THE HOPI INDIANS OF ORAIBI ARIZONA

8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. On offer is a fascinating, original and significant journal and photographic relic of the American Hopi Indians being a photograph album with a diary and scrapbook like feel to it kept and compiled by Verna C. Green, a teacher, while she lived and spent time among the Hopi Indian peoples in Oraibi, Arizona. While undated we believe the scrapbook - dairy circa 1920s or early 1930s, likely prior to the Indian Reorganization Act era of 1934. The 9"x 6" book, repaired with white "first aid" tape on the covers edges, has a faint pen inscription that reads "Clippings" from the Enchanted Desert Verna C. Green" has 36 pages with photographs pasted on front and back with sometimes lengthy inscriptions and captions. All are original photos taken by Verna. Historians and collectors of the Hopi will find such treasures as a rare photo of an Indian Snake Dance usually a closed ceremony. Verna had her ups and downs as a photographer with a few photos hard to distinguish but for the most part they are good. Some photos are 3½ x 2½ inches some are 5" x 3". Some have smudges and discolorations. There are 33 small and 24 larger photos totalling 54 images. There are 3 postcards tucked in. Here is an inventory of this remarkable group: Page 1. Beginning with the first page which is hand painted with floral bouquets, includes a photograph of Verna C Green dressed in the native Hopi Costume. She writes. "A Hopi Cheiftress V.C.G. Oribi Ariz. Value of materials in the headdress, $25. Made of eagle feathers, beads, etc." Page 2. "Elinore was a very bright student. Her father, a man of wealth but living in a one room adobe house. A pupil, Elinore and her little sister, Ellen, both attractive children. Ellen died about a month after and was buried in a crevice of the big rocks on the mesa. Her body was covered with adobe rocks. As all the heathen dead are. Little Indian girls wear costumes like this." Page 3. "Women dancers in the Basket Dance. Oraibi, Ariz. The old Oraibi settled before Columbus saw America. An Indian home, old Oraibi Ariz. Mr. and Mrs. Bruner of Ohio before an Indian Home." Page 4. "7500ft. up at Oraibi, Ariz. Mr. Bruner of Ohio. Scene at an Indian dance." Page 5. "Old Oraibi where the conservatives live. Scene at Old Oraibi, hundreds of years old." Page 6. "Marjorie in dance costume. Of Basket dance. Robe of all wool and hand woven. White moccasins of Indian Make" Page 7. "Green's room of school building. Helen T. Marjorie, Elizabeth, Juanita and Vivian. Oraibi Day School in background." Page 8. "Juanita, When an Indian girl dresses her hair like this it means that she is ready to get married. Bob-haired girls get left out on this proposition." Page 9. "Elizabeth. White dance moccasins. Indian women, girls, make shawls instead of sweaters or coats." Page 10. "Helen T., Marjorie, Vivian, Juanita, Elizabeth." Page 11. "Going up on an old Hopi house. The typical Hopi house is flat on top and the tip is used for many purposes. Notice the one small window." Page 12. "Hopi school girls. All trees that grow here were planted and carefully attended." Page 13. "Spinning wool. One of the few Christian Indians. He has a nice home, modern in every respect built by a daughter who teaches in a government school. This is his old home to which he seems attached and where he prefers to live when the daughter is away. His fine home is a wooden house, the finest one can have in that treeless desert." Page 14. "4 first graders. Corinne, June, Ilene, Rita. Back of school building. June's parents are Christian." Page 15. "Helen T. Indians are fond of jewelry which is made out of silver and turquoise." Page 16. "In an Indian dance. Oraibi Ariz. The usual dance moccasins are worn. A group of Indian boys and their teacher. Indian children love their white teachers." Page 17. "A little dark-eyed Indian beauty and her teacher Vera C. Green. In front of the school laundry. The children's school clothes are laundered here. They change clothes when they come in the morning and before they go home in the evening." Page 18. "The front of Oraibi School, Ariz. Old Indian homes, Oraibi, Ariz. On the Mesa." Page 19. "Coal Canyon, Ariz. Part of teachers homes Oraibi, Ariz. Ste0pts of school house." Page 20. "7500 ft. up. Bruner. Climbing the Mesa, Oraibi, Ariz. School house, Oraibi Ariz." Page 21. "A remarkable experience for the few whites present. At the Buffalo Dance. Oraibi, Ariz. A few Indian dancers in foreground….Two pupils Elinore an Isabelle. Both very bright students. This is the way the babies are carried in Hopi Land, on the backs of sisters while they____" Page 22. "An unforgettable experience, The Yabachi. A Navajo Hogan (or house). Whole families live in places like this…The old Spanish Mission on top of the mesa. Oraibi, Ariz. Now unused. Several hundred years old." Page 23. "The way Hopi's carry babies. A school girl." Page 24. "Green. Ga. Bruner Ohio. Old Oraibi where Hopi's have lived for hundreds of years with few changes….Indian home, Oraibi, Ariz." Page 25. "Coal Canyon, Ariz…going up the Mesa. A steep Climb Arizona." Page 26. "An Indian baby. Oraibi, Ariz." Page 27 (Postcard). "Hopi Indian Pueblo, Oraibi Arizona. This is the way it looks." Page 28. "Natural bridge. Petrified Forest. A wonderful day….Ruins of an old Indian home. Oraibi, Ariz." Page 29. "Dr. and Mrs. J. G. Anderson and Ethel Bruner. Green Photographer. At petrified forest….Another wonderful day. Looking across Grand Canyon, 13 miles away." Page 30. "Dr. Anderson and a petrified tree…At Grand Canyon, Ariz. What a sight!...At Grand Canyon Ariz." Page 31. "Harvest day exhibits. Oraibi School auditorium, Ariz." Page 32. "Harvest day exhibit. Oraibi School Auditorium, Ariz." Page 33. "Corn raised by stick plantings. Products of Indian farmers. Oraibi, Arizona." Page 34. "Indian Dancers in Ariz….V Green and her man. The most popular man in Mich." Page 35. "Exhibits of Harvest Day. Oraibi Auditorium, Arizona." Page 36. "My pal from Inn, Mable Gilbertson….At Indian School Mich. Green. December 25. On campus." HISTORICAL NOTE: The Mt. Pleasant Indian school opened in 1883 is now an abandoned building and closed in 1933. It operated 40 years. It was stated that many Indian Children were abused, beaten, and died at the Mt Pleasant Indian School. It appears that Ms Verna Green spent some time teaching/ or learning how to teach at the Mt. Pleasant School.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Poor

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