Fred Harvey Style Jewelry
19 products
19 products
Fred Harvey jewelry refers to a particular style of Native American jewelry primarily made from the 1920s to the 1940s in response to the expansion of tourism in the American West.
When the railroad reached the Southwest in 1880 and tourism began to grow, hospitality entrepreneur Fred Harvey recognized that tourists wanted silver jewelry that was inexpensive, light, and adorned with garish designs. Beginning in 1899, the Fred Harvey Company sent pre-cut turquoise stones and silver to trading posts for Navajo (Diné) silversmiths to make lighter-weight jewelry for Harvey's tourist ventures.
The jewelry was often stamped with various designs: lightning, clouds, arrows, snakes, owls, and thunderbirds. Lists of what these figures supposedly symbolized were given to tourists. This lightweight silver jewelry made from 1900 to the 1950s, often set with a single turquoise stone and featuring these Native American symbols, became known as the Fred Harvey Style.