A Classic Third Phase Chief’s Blanket, Ute Style, Navajo,
circa 1855, also known as the Twiss Third Phase.

A Classic Third Phase Chief’s Blanket, Ute Style, Navajo, circa 1855, also known as the Twiss Third Phase.

The third phase measures 57 inches long by 76 inches wide, as woven.

The third phase was collected between 1855 and 1861 by Thomas S. Twiss (1807-1871), of Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Between 1855 and 1861, Twiss was the first Indian Agent at Fort Laramie.

The Twiss Third Phase is in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (NMAI Catalog #10.8457.)

In 1996, the Twiss Third Phase was exhibited in Woven By The Grandmothers, at the National Museum of the American Indian, Bowling Green, New York. The third phase is illustrated as Plate 13 in Bonar, Woven by the Grandmothers, the exhibition catalog, 1996. Bonar dates the third phase “1850-1860.”

The third phase is illustrated as Figure 36 in Berlant & Kahlenberg, Walk in Beauty, 1977. Berlant and Kahlenberg date the third phase “1850-1860.”

The third phase is illustrated as Plate 59 in Wheat & Hedlund, Blanket Weaving in the Southwest, 2003. Wheat and Hedlund classify the third phase as “Phase III, early” and date it “1850-1860*.”

Like the Cahn First Phase and the SAR Variant, the Twiss Third Phase has three brown bands and four white bands above and below its brown central panel.

The Cahn First Phase, Ute Style, Navajo, circa 1800-1830.

The SAR Variant, Navajo, circa 1850.

The Twiss Third Phase, Navajo, circa 1855.

In the Twiss Third Phase, the red yarns are raveled bayeta dyed with lac. The blue yarns are handspun Churro fleece dyed in the yarn with indigo. The brown yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece. The white yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece.

On Page 78 of Woven by the Grandmothers, under Notes On Selected Collectors, Bonar makes the following remarks about Thomas Twiss.

Thomas S. Twiss (b. New York 1802-71). From 1826 to 1828, Twiss was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point, his alma mater. He resigned from the army with the rank of major in 1929 and began teaching at South Carolina College. In 1847, he became superintendent of the Nesbitt Manufacturing Company’s Iron Works, and, in 1850, resident and consulting engineer for the Buffalo and New York Railroad. In 1855, he was appointed U. S. Indian agent for the Upper Platte, and in 1857 he moved the agency from Rawhide Butte Creek, east of Fort Laramie, to Deer Creek, on the Platte River. His district included Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Oglalas, and Brules, as well as visiting bands of Crows, Pawnee, and Ponca. Twiss was required to distribute blankets, food, and other goods provided by the government, but the Indians complained that frequently they did not receive their fair share… In 1861, when President Lincoln took office, Twiss was not reassigned to his post. In 1862, the Deer Creek agency was moved back to Fort Laramie. Twiss married an Oglala girl named Wanikiyewin, whom he called Mary, and today many of his descendants are enrolled Sioux members; most of them live on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The Thomas S. Twiss Collection was presented to the museum by Harmon W. Hendricks, who purchased it in 1918 and 1919 from Daisy Barnett of New York.