Silver Ashtray
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Jun 1954
name: label: Collector
content: N/A
label: Donor Name
content: Dr. Lucinda D. Templin
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Concave oval on four ball feet, stamped designs - cross and swastika in center. Lent to NMAH "American Encounters" 6-1-92."
label: Notes
content: Note: the swastika design is actually what is usually called the Navajo "whirling log" symbol. It is in no way related to the Nazi swastika. In 1940, in response to Hitler's regime, the Navajo, Papago, Apache and Hopi people signed a whirling log proclamation. It read, "Because the above ornament, which has been a symbol of friendship among our forefathers for many centuries, has been desecrated recently by another nation of peoples, therefore it is resolved that henceforth from this date on and forever more our tribes renounce the use of the emblem commonly known today as the swastika . . . on our blankets, baskets, art objects, sand paintings and clothing." Reference: The Swastika Symbol in Navajo Textiles by Dennis J. Aigner. DAI Press, Laguna Beach, California, 2000. The swastika was also popular in the early 20th century in Europe and North America as a good luck symbol and was sometimes used decoratively in that sense on Navajo-made objects produced for the tourist market.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: New Mexico, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Navajo (Diné)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 200122
label: USNM Number
content: E404081-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Ashtray