Collection (Spanish Colonial Textiles)
Spanish Colonists Enter the New World
The majority of the Spanish Colonial textiles in my collection are Rio Grande blankets, in other words, those blankets woven by Hispanic people living north of what is now the border between Mexico and the United States. The small, Spanish communities in the Rio Grande river basin of what is now New Mexico brought with them the tools needed that would, to some extent, continue their lives as they were accustomed to. The horizontal treadle loom was one of those tools. It was this loom that created the Rio Grande blankets and jergas (floor coverings) for which are now so historically noted in private collections and museums across the country.