09/17/2026
Fred Harvey: The Revolution of Southwestern Tourism and the Rise of Native American Art
Imagine living in the East or Midwest in the late 1800s and hearing about the American Southwest—a place of vast deserts, dramatic landscapes, unfamiliar architecture, and Native cultures that were very different from anything you had experienced. For most people, getting there was difficult and time-consuming. Then the railroad began pushing west, and suddenly the Southwest was no longer a distant frontier. It was somewhere you could actually visit
The Railroad Opens the Southwest
The expansion of the railroad changed the way Americans experienced the West. Places that had once required long, difficult overland journeys could now be reached by train, bringing a growing number of travelers into New Mexico, Arizona, and other parts of the Southwest.
Think about what that must have been like for a traveler at the time. You could board a train in the East or Midwest and, instead of simply reading about the Southwest in a newspaper or seeing it in a painting, you could actually watch the landscape change outside your window. You could see the desert, encounter unfamiliar architecture and foods, meet people from cultures you had never experienced firsthand, and discover Native American art.
Read more here https://alltribes.com/blog/fred-harvey-the-revolution-of-southwestern-tourism-and-the-rise-of-native-american-art/
Shop Fred Harvey ERA Jewelry available at Alltribes here:
https://alltribes.com/search.php?category=&search_query=fred%20Harvey%20jewelry§ion=producthttps://alltribes.com/search.php?
