Washington Matthews' 1884 study of Navajo weaving, published in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. It describes wool, spinning, native and imported dyes (black, yellow, reddish, indigo, bayeta), the upright blanket loom, warping, heald-making and the weaving process. It also covers diagonal and diamond twill weaving on four sheds, blanket types and designs, and belt and sash weaving, compared with Zuñi methods and an Aztec picture. Illustrated with plates, loom diagrams, heald/warp diagrams and photographs of blankets.

Washington Matthews' 1884 paper from the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology describes Navajo weaving as he observed it in the early 1880s. It covers wool spinning, native and imported dyes (black, yellow, reddish, indigo, bayeta), the upright blanket loom, warp formation, heald making, and the weaving process with batten and reed-fork. It also treats diagonal and diamond twill weaving on four sheds, the weaving of belts and sashes with raised figures, and varieties of blankets. A comparison with Zuni belt weaving and an Aztec picture closes the paper. Illustrated with plates, loom and warp diagrams, and photographs of blankets.

William Henry Holmes's study of the textile arts of the prehistoric mound-building peoples of the eastern United States, from the Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. It covers wattle work, basketry, matting, and pliable fabrics (cloth, nets, feather-work, embroidery), drawing on early European accounts and on archaeological remains. Surviving fabrics come from caves and shelters, charred mound deposits, contact with copper, and impressions on pottery. It is illustrated with plates and figures, including drawings that analyze twined and woven structures; it contains no weaving drafts.

William H. Holmes's 1884 study, published in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, examines textile impressions left on prehistoric pottery from the eastern and central United States. He sorts the fabrics into six groups plus miscellaneous forms: plain weave, paired and twisted warp, diagonal weaves, plaiting, knotted nets, and cord markings. Many illustrated figures show the impressions and restorations, with comparisons to Swiss Lake-Dwelling fabrics and modern Northwest Coast work. The text discusses how the fabrics may have been made, using pegs and frames, and how they were used in shaping and decorating pottery.

William H. Holmes's study argues that the textile arts (basketry, weaving, embroidery, netting) shaped the development of form and geometric ornament in primitive art. It covers form and color in textiles, then relief and color phenomena arising from construction techniques such as twining, coiling, interlacing and reticulated work, with supplementary features like feathers, pendants and embroidery. It closes with how geometric design was imposed on graphic figures and carried into pottery, carving, tapa stamps and architecture. It is illustrated with many figures (286-358) of Native American, Peruvian and Polynesian baskets, trays and fabrics.