This is another step in the process of rug weaving for the Navajo crafters. Carding is the process of separating the long fiber wool from the short, along with any debris that may remain in the wool after shearing. Hand carding is much less common now.

The caption on the front states: Carding wool to be used in Navajo Indian rug weaving, Gallup, New Mexico.
This postcard likely dates from the 1940s.

This image is a photograph of the earliest stages of Navaho weaving, as practiced in the early 20th Century. The women are shearing sheep, using manual sheep shears as seen in the hands of the woman on the right. It is slow, difficult work with live animals.

There is no description on the back of this card or the black and white ones that follow. They are photographs that have been cropped, printed on paper and stamped on the back with postcard markings for tourist use.
The caption states: Shearing sheep obtaining wool to be used in  Navajo Indian rug weaving, Gallup, New Mexico.
The card likely dates from the 1940s.

This image is the oldest adobe residence still standing in the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It and the church pictured earlier are both part of the Barrio de Analco Historic District. This house is quite small and dark inside, but the thick walls provide a respite from the summer heat.

The description states:
OLDEST HOUSE
This was he residence of the Indian Chief of Tiguex, now Santa Fe, N. M. Coronado with 1,100 men in 1540, made this very old town his headquarters, until his return to Mexico in 1543, but only 100 men went with him. Those who remained formed the first settlement of Europeans in what is now the United States. Coronado and many other Governors occupied this house until the Old Palace was built in 1620, or shortly thereafter.
 
–It is likely much of this description is based on legend, as more recent scholarship contradicts some of the details. This photo cannot be precisely dated, but the card itself is dated 1908, so the picture is likely from the beginning of the 20th century.

Still inside the chapel, now facing the opposite direction, this is a view of the gallery and the staircase on the left. Also shown is the main entrance door, and several of the stations of the cross illustrations common in such churches.

The description states:
GALLERY IN THE OLDEST CHURCH
On one of its beams is carved the name of the Governor of new Mexico, the Marquez de Penuela, who rebut it in 1710, and that of his Aide and Ensign, Señor Don Agustine Flores Vergara. The gallery has a puncheon floor, interesting to many people, also quite an amount of Spanish and native carving. The beams and logs are from the mountains near Santa Fe. The old roof was replaced in 1830 by the present one. It and the spiral pillars are native work.
–The name may correctly be Don Augustine, but it is transcribed as printed on the card. Given the age of this card, and the primitive typesetting and printing methods of the time, it is likely that the error was too cumbersome and costly to correct.
The card is dated 1908.

The next view is inside the church, facing the elaborate and ornate altar as it looked around the turn of the 20th century.
The description states:
This is an interior view of the oldest church in the United States, situated in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is the oldest town in the United States. In the church may be seen Spanish wool work and carving done many years ago, and the oldest bell in the United States, over 500 years old, and some Italian oil paintings, showing the rich colors of the old masters, as well as other Spanish oil paintings, and some very interesting statues.
-It is not clear the exact time of the photo, but it is reasonable to assume that it was taken after the 1888 reconstruction and before the copyright date of 1908.

The next image in this series shows the damage suffered by the church tower and other components from the storm of 1872. The restoration was not begun until 1888, likely because these missions were no longer under the control of the Catholic Church, but instead had been turned over to the local governments, many of which were poor or very remote from the missions they now administered.
The description states:
This represents San Miguel Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico as it was up to 1872. The upper portion of the tripe tower fell in 1872. In 1888, the toper and front of the church were repaired as now seen. This adobe church (ad-o-bay) was built of large sun-dried bricks. The walls are from three to five feet thick, with inside and out side covered with a thin layer of mud. The church is a wonder to all who see it.  It fronts on the old Santa Fe Trail.
–The image could date from almost any time after the 1872 storm and the 1888 reconstruction, but most likely dates from just after the storm when only minor emergency repairs and cleanup had been completed. The card itself is dated 1908.

This starts a series of very old photos of the San Miguel Mission, as it is now known, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is an active church today, and claims to be the oldest church in North America. It can be seen to be in poor condition, a result of the secularization of the missions after Mexican independance. The image shows the church shortly before a storm which toppled the triple tower.
The description states:
Santa Fe, N. M., 1872, was visited by a severe storm and the triple tower of the Old Church was destroyed. It was rebuilt, as now seen, in 1888, and the buttresses built against the front, with its adobe wall to the left. Chamuscado, in 151 [sic], came as far as Tiguex, now Santa Fe, and left three Franciscans. In 1582 Espejo, with a small party, flung that the Fathers had been killed. They soon all returned to Mexico. Oñate in 1607, with his colony, joined the people of Tiguex and made it the capital. It was then called Santa Fe de San Francisco.
— The correct date for Chamuscado’s expedition is 1581. The photo is clearly labelled as dating from 1872, but the card itself is copyrighted 1908.

This is a wonderful depiction of the kind of hardscrabble businesses that popped up all along the western portions of the old Lincoln Highway/Route 66. The appearance of the group posing in front of the building on the right gives the distinct impression this was a business established on or near reservation land that the highway passed through.

This business clearly sold various Native American crafts and souvenirs for travelers passing by, and there appears to be a woman weaving a blanket in front of the building on the left. They also sold Mobil Gas, as indicated by the sign over the pumps. The presence on the left of the ‘woody’ station wagon puts this photo in the post-war 1940s.
These kinds of establishments can still be found on the side roads off of I-40 through New Mexico and Arizona, some still intact but updated and expanded over the years.