Customer Reviews

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

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From the 1880's to the 1940's, non-Navajo individuals entered a world seldom seen by outsiders and became esteemed residents on the Navajo reservation. They were the Navajo traders, and they played a significant role in Navajo life during this time period. They ran the general store and pawn shop. They pushed for higher levels of craftmanship in Navajo arts and crafts and then marketed those products to the rest of the United States. The trading post was a central meeting place and a communication center, and the traders were the social service providers.

Lorenzo Hubbell was one of the earliest Navajo traders and is perhaps the most well known. Hubbell and his family ran the trading post at Ganado, Arizona. It is now the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. The book is a small coffee table style book designed to be interesting to look at and quick to read. The text is primarily about Hubbell and his family and how he was involved in the issues of his time. It includes a summarized history of the Navajo people and well appointed color and black and white photographs.

Since this book is only about Hubbell and the Ganado trading post, this book is an excellent historical resource if you are planning on visiting that site or would like a souvenier book. I purchased it as a supplemental text to learn more about Hubbell after I had learned about other trading posts and the Navajo culture. If you are interested in learning more comprehensive information about the Navajo culture and the role of the traders, I would recommend "Wide Ruins" by Sallie Wagner and "Navajo Trader" by Cladwell Richardson. Out of the two books, "Wide Ruins" is my favorite, but both books contain personal stories of Navajo people and their culture. I learned more about the role the traders played in the Navajo world from "Wide Ruins" and "Navajo Trader" then from "Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site", but it achieves its purpose with style.

I visited this trading post during a motorcycle trip in June, 2005. After reading Elizabeth Hedgemann's "Navajo Trading Days", I did some more research and purchased this book. Good photographs and historical data on the surrounding area. I plan to return to the Navajo Nation in 2006 and revisit this trading post and others.