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The Donation Archive documents notable books and artifacts that come through my Albuquerque donation center, preserving their provenance and cultural significance for New Mexico history.

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Archive entry · Signed third printing

Oscar T. Branson — Fetishes and Carvings of the Southwest, signed

A signed Third Printing of the principal English-language reference on Pueblo and Zuni stone fetishes and carved animal figures, inscribed by the author "To Diana, best of luck."

The cover of Fetishes and Carvings of the Southwest by Oscar T. Branson, with a turquoise-covered Zuni fetish jar and a small carved figure on a red background. — The donated copy — Treasure Chest Publications paperback, Third Printing.

Catalog

Title: Fetishes and Carvings of the Southwest
Author: Oscar T. Branson
Photo / design: Ethel Branson
Publisher: Treasure Chest Publications, Inc., 1850 W. Grant Road, Suite 101, P.O. Box 5250, Tucson, AZ 85703
Original year: 1976
This copy: Third Printing
Provenance: Inscribed "To Diana, best of luck, Oscar T. Branson" on the title page
Donated: May 2026, Albuquerque-area donor

What this book is

Oscar T. Branson's Fetishes and Carvings of the Southwest is the principal English-language reference work on Pueblo and Zuni stone fetishes — the small carved animal figures, ceremonial objects, and stone-bead necklaces produced by Pueblo carvers, especially the carvers of Zuni Pueblo in western New Mexico. The book documents the work of named carvers including Leekya Deyuse (the Zuni master whose fetish jar appears on the cover), David Tsikewa, Edna Leki, and many others, with photographs of representative pieces and identifying notes that collectors and dealers have used for nearly fifty years.

Branson and his wife Ethel ran Treasure Chest Publications out of Tucson, AZ, which produced a small line of Southwest-arts reference books in the 1970s and 80s. Fetishes and Carvings of the Southwest was their flagship title, and it has been reprinted multiple times. The Third Printing of a small-press regional title is a sign that the book was actively used — collectors, gallery owners, museum gift shops — and that the publisher kept restocking to meet demand. It is the book that gets pulled off the shelf in a Santa Fe or Albuquerque gallery to confirm what a particular fetish actually is.

Why this copy matters

Signed and inscribed by Oscar Branson on the title page.

Inscription"To Diana, best of luck, — Oscar T. Branson" — in dark ink across the title page above the Treasure Chest imprint.

The phrasing — "best of luck" — is the kind of inscription a regional-arts author writes for a customer who is starting out in the field, or for a gallery owner opening a shop, or for a Southwest-arts dealer at a trade show. It signals that the book entered circulation through a personal exchange, not just a retail purchase.

Multi-part bibliographic record

Front cover of Fetishes and Carvings of the Southwest with a turquoise fetish jar and small carved figure — **Cover.** The Leekya Deyuse turquoise-covered fetish jar with a hunting fetish in the foreground.

The title page reading 'FETISHES and Carvings of the Southwest by Oscar T. Branson' with inscription 'To Diana Best of Luck Oscar T. Branson' — **Signed title page.** Inscribed in dark ink across the byline area.

The page facing the title page noting 'THIRD PRINTING' and a description of the front cover crucified turquoise-covered fetish jar — **Third Printing notation.** Confirms this isn't a first — but it's a long-running reprint that signals continued demand.

An interior spread showing a painted illustration of an older Tewa carver, possibly Crucita, with text about Native American carvers — **Interior — named carver illustration.** The book's identifying-the-carver approach.

How it came in

Donated in May 2026 through NMLP. Donor scenario anonymized. Book is in clean paperback condition.

Where it's going

Likely route: a Zuni-fetish or Southwest-arts collector, a gallery reference shelf, or a private specialty-arts collector building a working library. I'll list it through proper channels with the bibliographic photos as evidence.

External references & authoritative sources

WorldCat / OCLC: search.worldcat.org/title/3171517 — library holdings for the original 1976 edition.
Treasure Chest Publications, Tucson AZ: the Branson family's small-press imprint, which published a series of Southwest-arts reference titles in the 1970s and 80s.
Zuni Pueblo cultural authority: Pueblo of Zuni / A:shiwi (the source community for most fetish carving traditions documented here).
Leekya Deyuse (whose fetish jar appears on the cover): biographical reference at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Reference institutions: Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian (Santa Fe), Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (Santa Fe), Heard Museum (Phoenix).

Citation (Chicago): Eldred, Josh. "Signed Fetishes & Carvings of the Southwest — Oscar T. Branson." NMLP Donation Archive. Albuquerque: New Mexico Literacy Project, May 1, 2026. https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/archive/fetishes-branson-1976.

Southwest-arts reference books often hide in NM estates.

Retired gallery owners, jewelry collectors, and Southwest-arts buyers tend to have signed reference shelves a non-collector wouldn't recognize. Free in-home pickup catches them.

Schedule a free pickup Call 702-496-4214

Back to the archive index
Mark Winter, Master Weavers signed (2011) — the related Navajo-textile reference, signed.
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Closed Signature Pools — New Mexico Authors — the related signature-corpus reference.