Thomas Varker Keam, Indian trader

by Laura Graves

Thomas Keam, who owned and operated a trading post in Keams Canyon, Arizona Territory, from 1874 to 1902, was the first Indian trader to develop arts and crafts as a part of his business. The first to suggest that native artists modify their techniques so as to increase the salability of their work, he had a major impact on the evolution of Hopi pottery. Keam was involved in most of the early anthropological and archaeological work conducted in the region and was the first trader to develop lucrative contacts with museum curators and anthropologists. He sold enormous collections to the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum, and the Peabody Museum as well as to several European institutions. An advocate for the Indians, Keam represented the Hopis and Navajos in their confrontations with the U.S. government between 1869 and 1902, when the Indians tried to maintain their political and cultural independence in the face of federal "civilizing' programs.