Traveling treasures: American Indian objects embark on 2-year tour

Marjorie Chan, chairwoman of the University of Utah department of geology, enjoys yard-sale expeditions. "It's a lot like geology," she says. "You don't know what you'll find, and the stories behind it are interesting."

A few years ago she struck gold — a collection of more than 600 pieces of American Indian art works, mostly jewelry, collected by the late Dorothy Haslam. It's a discovery that will benefit all Utahns, from visitors to the Utah Museum of Natural History to residents of far-flung communities across the state.

Last week, a selection of the treasures were prepared for a two-year jaunt through Utah.

The story of how the museum acquired the collection dates to several years ago, when Chan went to a yard sale in Sugar House. Among items for sale were many issues of Arizona Highways magazine, which sometimes carries articles about American Indian art.

Chan likes to collect these works and wondered if the magazines indicated a similar interest. She asked a woman holding the yard sale whether they had American Indian art.

"She said, 'Oh, yes, we've got a lot because our mother really collected it,"' Chan recalled. The family was thinking about selling them, but they weren't part of the yard sale.

When Chan finally had a chance to see the collection a few months later, she said, "I started looking at the stuff and I was amazed."

The collection had been assembled by Dorothy Haslam, who died in 2003. Over the course of 50 years, she had accompanied her husband, Kenneth, in business travels throughout the Four Corners region. She became extremely interested in handmade material that many tribes sold to tourists and trading posts, and amassed more than 600 art objects.

"It was mostly jewelry," Chan said. "There were literally shoeboxes full of jewelry. They had it very well organized. ... A lot of the pieces were just in mint condition."

Many were signed and some of the turquoise was of a quality no longer available. "Some of the jewelry pieces are really stunning."

Besides the jewelry, there were hand-woven rugs, beads and Kachina figurines. Material was made by Navajo, Ute, Apache, Hopi, Zuni and other American Indian artists.

Chan didn't think she or any other individual collector should buy parts of the treasure, but that it should stay together in a museum so everyone could enjoy it.

That day, she had dinner with Sarah George, director of the Utah Museum of Natural History, which is based at the University of Utah. Chan said she was worried that if the collection were sold, it would be broken up. She told George she couldn't believe her eyes about what Dorothy Haslam had collected.