Master Weaver: Julia Bah Joe | Co-Weaver: Lillie Joe Hill
In 1932, master weaver Julia Bah Joe and daughter Lillie Joe Hill of Lower Greasewood, Arizona, embarked on a remarkable journey to create “The World’s Largest Navajo Rug” for Lorenzo Hubbell Jr.’s trading post in Winslow, Arizona. During the Great Depression, Hubbell sought to attract customers to his business and recognized the potential draw of a monumental rug. He commissioned the Joe family, who had long provided large rugs to Hubbell Trading Posts, to transform this idea into a reality. With the support of Julia’s husband Sam and daughters Emma, Mary, and Helen, alongside the Kin ł ichii’nii (Red House) Clan, Julia and Lillie spent the next five years focused on achieving that goal.
Diyogí Tsoh: The Big Rug
The finished work, known in Navajo as Diyogí Tsoh (translated to The Big Rug), stands as a masterpiece of scale and intricate technique. It not only showcases the exceptional artistry of Navajo weaving but also embodies the resilience and creativity central to Diné culture. More than just a product, it remains a symbol of pride for the Greasewood community and a testament to the power of collaboration and tradition.
Diyogí Tsoh is the largest known traditionally made Navajo (Diné) Rug. The rug does not use commercially produced wool, but rather hand-carded, dyed, and spun wool from family sheep. It is on exhibit at Affeldt Mion Museum, thanks to a long-term loan from the Winslow Arts Trust. The Big Rug was returned to Winslow in 2012 thanks to Allan Affeldt and Tina Mion after many years in storage.
Creating the Big Rug
To create a weaving of this monumental size, Sam Joe constructed an addition to their home and a custom metal pipe loom that could accommodate the ambitious project. Lorenzo Hubbell Jr. provided the initial warp with wool from Oraibi, then family and community members set out to prepare the vast amount of wool needed to create the rug. They sheared, washed, carded, and dyed wool from their sheep, including wool from Lillie’s husband David’s flock.
Community members, family, and ladies of Kinłichíi’nii clan told stories around pots of mutton stew as they spun black, gray, ivory, and Ganado Red wool on hip spindles. This preparation took two years.
Weaving Diyogí Tsoh, The Big Rug
With the yarn at last in hand, Julia and Lillie began their work at the loom, weaving the family-designed pattern featuring the stars and Milky Way of Greasewood’s night sky. They also included horned toads, shields, and a border pattern based on Ancestral Puebloan potsherds discovered near their home. As they wove, Julia fell ill, leaving the task to nineteen-year-old Lillie, whose determination to complete their vision shone through. Julia had instilled a strong work ethic in all her children, and when Julia at last recovered, she returned to the loom, side-by-side with her daughter. Three years after weaving began, Julia and Lillie made their last stitch, the ch’ihónít’I, providing a path for the weaver’s spirit to exit the rug.
In 1937, five years after Lorenzo Hubbell Jr. first commissioned the “World’s Largest Navajo Rug,” Julia, Lillie, and all who had poured heart and soul into this project, completed the 21’4” x 32’7” nearly two-hundred-fifty-pound textile. The “World’s Largest Navajo Rug” became the most famous Navajo rug in America.
The Big Rug’s Pattern
The weaving uses a natural palette of grays, blacks, whites, and the traditional J.L. Hubbell Ganado Red (aniline dye), and features the universe as the theme, including stars and the milky way. The design also includes horned toads and protective shields. The border pattern is based on Ancestral Puebloan potsherds found near the home by Julia Joe’s son-in-law, Jerome Tshischilly. While viewing the rug, look for the spirit line, or ch’ihónít’I: a single contrasting color that extends through the border to the edge. Navajo weavers believe their spirits become entwined in the wool as they weave. The last stitch they make, the ch’ihónít’I, provides a path for the weaver’s spirit to safely leave and live to make another rug, following in the tradition of Na’ashjéii Asdzáá (Spider Woman), who taught the Navajo to weave. Currently, you’ll find the spirit line of Diyogí Tsoh in the upper right corner at the exhibit. This will change annually as we rotate the rug according to our conservation plan.
The Big Rug’s Journey
Beyond being displayed in Winslow’s Hubbell Trading Post and at Hubbell’s Motor Company as a backdrop to the 1946 DeSoto, The Big Rug has an impressive touring history, traveling to various museums, as well as the U.S. Senate chambers in Washington, D.C in 1945, the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Exhibition in 1939, Marshall Field & Company’s Chicago department store in 1943, and a New York travel show in 1948. The Big Rug was even entered into the Phoenix Jr. Chamber of Commerce Parade on April 9, 1948. The horse-drawn wagon displayed the rug via a mounted crossbeam, with Navajo escorts flanking the float.
After Lorenzo Hubbell Jr.’s death in 1942, his brother Roman assumed control of the business but declared bankruptcy in 1949. Kyle Bales then purchased the Trading Post, including its inventory and The Big Rug. Throughout the 1960s, the rug continued to travel, from the Heard Museum and Thomas Mall in Phoenix to the New York World’s Fair.
Julia Joe sees her Big Rug again
In 1965, Julia Joe requested to see her rug once more before she died. She visited her Diyogí Tsoh at the Hubbell Trading Post. According to an Arizona Republic article about that visit, Julia Joe tenderly touched her rug and said:
Thank you very much for showing me my rug. I have been wanting to come for a long time. I take pride in touching my rug once again.
Julia and Lillie traveled with Miss Navajo Genevieve Lee Salt in 1972, where they were again reunited with their incredible weaving.
Julia passed away in 1974 at 99-years-old.
The Big Rug Goes into Storage
In 1986, Kyle Bales’s heir, Patricia Bales Smith, deeded the building to the Arizona Historical Society with the intention it become a Trading Post Museum. That did not happen, and the “World’s Largest Navajo Rug” disappeared into obscurity for more than twenty-five years.
The Big Rug Returns to Winslow
In 1998, Allan Affeldt, while restoring La Posada Hotel with his wife Tina Mion, discovered a historic photo of The Big Rug, featuring Navajo dancers, seen below.
Allan’s curiosity over the rug led him down a path of the rug’s history. He traced of the chain of ownership to Patricia Bales Smith. All parties recognized the weaving as a regional treasure, and so came to an agreement, that Allan could purchase the rug on the condition he create a museum. They worked with the City of Winslow to convert the old Hubbell Trading Post into a visitor’s center, and in 2012, Allan purchased the once-famous textile from Patricia’s heirs. He later donated The Big Rug to the Winslow Arts Trust, then built this museum and gallery for the rug to have a permanent home.
The Big Rug Comes Home
For The Big Rug’s 2012 homecoming, a blessing ceremony was held for Julia Joe’s descendants, including ninety-four-year-old Emma Joe Lee, who had helped card the wool seventy-five years earlier. Emma’s family helped her walk the path of the rug one last time.
2023 Family Gathering
In 2023, prior to this exhibit opening at Affeldt Mion Museum, descendants again visited The Big Rug. More than seventy family members attended. On seeing the exhibit, Julia’s Joe’s grandson Sammy (front row, wearing the cowboy hat) nodded and said:
Diyogí Tsoh can at long last be “at rest.”
The Big Rug Gallery
To reach a broader audience, Allan and Tina donated this important piece of history to the Winslow Arts Trust. They wanted the rug to be in the town where it was originally displayed, but the dream of an exhibit presented many challenges. A textile of this size and importance needed a large, important, and nuanced space. After years of planning, Allan Affeldt, with help from the City of Winslow, NACOG, and Allan’s crew of dedicated artists, engineers, and workers, completed the rehabilitation and expansion of Mary E.J. Colter’s 1930 depot at La Posada Hotel, including this redesigned baggage room, the new permanent home of Diyogí Tsoh: The Big Rug.
Much care and respect have been put into the creation of this exhibit by Affeldt Mion Museum and the Winslow Arts Trust. The museum’s conservation and care plan will ensure that generations to come will feel the love and effort woven into every fiber of this exceptionally crafted rug.
Naming the Rug
For years, the textile created to be the “World’s Largest Navajo Rug” was referred to as just that, but another weaving surpassed it in size in 1977 (see below), so calling it the “World’s Largest” was no long appropriate. After that time, it was often referred to as “Hubbell’s Rug” or “The Hubbell Rug,” named for Lorenzo Hubbell Jr who commissioned and funded the project in 1932. No credit was given to the weavers. Later, the name “Joe” was added to honor master-weaver Julia Joe, but the name “Hubbell-Joe” did not honor Julia’s daughters–Lillie Hill, who did much of the weaving, nor Emma Lee, Helen Clark, or Mary Yazzie who helped card the wool–nor did it honor the Kin ł ichii’nii (Red House) Clan who came together over pots of mutton stew to spin wool. The family has always stressed this was not the work of one weaver, but rather a community effort.
While Lorenzo Hubbell Jr, played a major role with the initial idea and support, it was the Diné people of Lower Greasewood who brought this masterpiece to life. To honor these origins, Affeldt Mion Museum refers to the weaving as the family does: DIYOGÍ TSOH: The Big Rug.
The Big Sister Rug of Chilchinbeto
While Diyogí Tsoh was created to be the “World’s Largest Rug” in the 1930s, a weaving in 1977 surpassed it in size, created by the community of Chilchinbeto. The Big Sister Rug measures 24’5″ in height and 37’10” feet and consists of five sets of individual designs, so the effect is of twenty-five separate rugs side-by-side. Although it looks like the rugs are sewn together, it is, in fact, one woven piece, made by eleven weavers on a 38′ by 25′ loom using commercially produced yarn. The Big Sister is not currently on display but if you’d like to learn more, take a look at this terrific documentary.
The existence of the Big Sister does not diminish the accomplishments of Julia Joe, Lillie Joe, and the Kin ł ichii’nii clan, though, who not only wove this bordered, single-narrative rug, but also sheared, hand-carded, spun, and dyed the wool for this incredible traditionally made masterwork. We applaud both the Chilchinbeto community and the community of Lower Greasewood Arizona for what they’ve given the world in these two extraordinary weavings.
To read more about the design and building of this exhibit, click the button below.