The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College concludes its summer lecture series based on the theme, “A Year in the Life of the West,” with a presentation from Dexter Cirillo, '1868: The Impact of Bosque Redondo on Navajo Silverwork and Southwestern Indian Jewelry' on Wednesday, August 23rd at 1:30 p.m. in the Center’s Lyceum Room #120. The history of Southwestern Indian jewelry is the story of turquoise and silver. Turquoise, a sacred stone to all of the Southwestern tribes, has been mined in the Southwest for more than 1000 years. Silverwork, on the other hand, is barely 150 years old. 1868 marks the year the Navajos were released from four years of incarceration at Bosque Redondo near Fort Sumner in southeastern New Mexico. It is also the “official” beginning of Navajo silverwork. Dr. Dexter Cirillo will discuss the relationship between Bosque Redondo and the beginnings of Navajo silverwork within the history of Southwestern Indian jewelry.

Dr. Cirillo is the author of 'Southwestern Indian Jewelry' (Abbeville, 1992) and 'Southwestern Indian Jewelry – Crafting New Traditions' (Rizzoli, 2008), winner of the 2008 New Mexico Book Award in the Arts, among many other publications. She has lectured at numerous museums and universities around the country and is a frequent jewelry judge at the Santa Fe and Heard Museum Indian markets. She holds a Ph.D. from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. She and her husband have recently moved to Durango from Aspen, Colorado.

This lecture is free to the public. Parking on campus is free during summer months.

The Center of Southwest Studies, now in its fifty-third year, provides an active program of free public lectures and events year-round at its museum, research library, and archives facility on the campus of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. For more information, please contact the Center’s business office at 970-247-7456.