Nellie Douma Nampeyo (1896-1978) Biography

Ta-way "Sweet Corn Meal for Bread"

Nellie was born in 1896, the middle daughter of Nampeyo and Lesso. In 1910 the Santa Fe Railway commissioned a brown stucco pueblo style house on-site to be built by the Fred Harvey Company and to be inhabited by Indians from Hopi. Nampeyo and her family were to represent the Hopi pueblo and share the Hopi way of life. Nampeyo and Nellie demonstrated pottery making and interacted with tourists. Nellie was about 16 at the time.

She was the great-grandmother of Jacob Koopee, Jr. and the mother of Zella Nampeyo and Marie Koopee, all well known Hopi potters. She was known for her highly skilled detailed designs, and her work resides in the Museum of Northern Arizona, the Heard Museum, as well as other collections around the world. Nellie died in 1978; she was 82 years old.