Hollister, Leonard D.

Santa Clara figurative bowl (70.291)

A collector of Native American pottery from the Southwest, Leonard D. Hollister was born in Denver, Colorado, in October 1884. As the son of Uriah S. Hollister, a prominent executive with the Continental Oil Company and author of a noted work on Navajo textiles, The Navajo and His Blanket (1903), Hollister appears to have become interested in Native American culture early in life, and for decades, he acquired representative works of well-known potters from pueblos across the southwest.

From the guide to the Leonard D. Hollister Collection MS 688., 1890-1966, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)