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Native artists created regionally specific mementos by transforming well-known generic souvenirs.
Sometimes this process superimposed Indian subject matter on common items, such as cookie jars, neckties, and
salt-and-pepper shakers. Other times Native artists made souvenirs with materials used in traditional Native
artsbasketry, beading, pottery, and weaving. Ashtrays, animal sculptures, beaded key chains, and
candlesticks made from hand-dug clay proliferated along Route 66 during the 1930s.
The expensive works of Native art found in shops trailing the railroad lines fascinated tourists. Automobile
tourists tended to be less affluent, and rarely could afford these pieces, and that stimulated the development
of miniature versions of baskets, pottery, and weavings that the travelers-by-car could swing financially.
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