UITA — United Indian Traders Association Marks
United Indian Traders Association (UITA): The Marks and Authentication Story
The United Indian Traders Association (UITA) was a trade association — not a retail shop — incorporated as a nonprofit in New Mexico on September 13, 1931. Its founding purpose was the authentication of Indian crafts. It established one of the earliest standardized marking systems for genuinely hand-made Native American silver jewelry, and its numbered marks appear on pieces traded through member dealers across the Southwest.
Note on category: UITA was an institution, not a retail store. This page appears in the shops section of the Field Guide because UITA's marks appear on jewelry items traded through member shops, and because the organization's history is essential context for understanding those marks.
Field Notes by Mateo James
Hougart's account establishes the founding clearly (~line 1624): "The United Indian Traders Association (UITA) was established officially on September 13, 1931 for the purpose of authentication of Indian crafts." The organization incorporated as a non-profit in New Mexico with the support of traders, Harold Ickes (later Secretary of the Interior), and San Francisco attorney Charles Elkus.
The founding officers: R.C. Masters served as first President; C.N. Cotton as Vice President; Berton Staples as Treasurer; Tobe Turpen as Secretary. Directors included C.G. Wallace, J.M. Drolet, Ramon Hubbell, Lloyd Ambrose, Bruce Barnard, and Mike Kirk.
The UITA's authentication ambitions were real. The organization petitioned the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to adopt UITA standards for authentic Indian-made goods. It proposed adhesive cloth tags and die stamps as dual authentication methods. In 1946, UITA put its own marking system into place; within a year, roughly forty members were using the UITA rules. Hougart (~line 1875) documents the mark format: "UITA, with an arrowhead breaking the letters in the center and followed by a number designating the trading post." Member numbers were assigned to participating traders — for example, Hubbell Trading Post in Winslow carried the UITA 29 mark.
Marion (M.L.) Woodard worked for the UITA in the 1930s and developed his own variant mark — "W" and "IHM S/S" (Indian Hand Made Sterling Silver) — while associated with the organization. The silver supply business Woodard operated eventually became Indian Jewelry Supply Company. That lineage — UITA → Woodard's supply → Indian Jewelry Supply — connects three of the institutions documented in this wave of the field guide.
The UITA Mark
The standard UITA mark format: the four letters U-I-T-A with an arrowhead breaking the letters in the center, followed by a number identifying the member trading post. The mark appears die-stamped on silver jewelry items traded through member shops.
Collector's Handbook
What to look for: The UITA mark with its arrowhead and member number. Cross-reference the number against known member traders when possible — Hougart documents specific number-to-trader assignments where the record allows.
Authentication significance: A UITA mark on pre-1950 silver jewelry is documentation that a member trader vouched for the piece as genuine hand-made Native American work meeting the 1946 UITA standards (coin silver or better, dies hand-made, no machine dies, genuine stones).
Limitation: UITA membership numbered around forty at peak. Many authentic hand-made pieces from the same era carry no UITA mark. Absence of the mark does not indicate inauthenticity; presence of the mark is a positive indicator with documented context.
Related pages: Woodard's Indian Arts (coming soon) · Indian Jewelry Supply
References
- Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022), ~lines 85, 1624–1715, 1875–1913. [Primary source — full UITA founding, membership, mark system, and member number documentation.]