This unfinished cotton blanket, still on the loom, was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1885 to demonstrate the traditional weaving techniques of the Pima Indians of southern Arizona.
The Pimas used such blankets as bed coverings and as robes to protect themselves from the elements. They continued to weave them long after most other Indian weavers in the North American Southwest adopted wool as their principal raw material. Near the end of the 19th century, however, they stopped growing and weaving cotton when manufactured textiles became available to them.
