California State Indian Museum

Last updated
California State Indian Museum
California State Indian Museum.jpg
California State Indian Museum entrance
Location2618 K Street,
Sacramento, California, U.S.
Coordinates 38°34′22″N121°28′17″W / 38.57278°N 121.47139°W / 38.57278; -121.47139
BuiltJune 23, 1914
Governing body California Department of Parks and Recreation
DesignatedAugust 17, 1990
Reference no.991 [1]
Location map Sacramento.png
Red pog.svg
Location in Sacramento

The California State Indian Museum is a museum in the state park system of California, United States, interpreting the diverse cultures of the indigenous peoples of California. It is located in Midtown Sacramento at 2618 K Street. [2] The museum exhibits traditional items illustrating the varying cultures of the state's first inhabitants. [2] The native population of California, one of the largest and most diverse in the Western hemisphere, was made up of over 150 distinct tribal groups who spoke at least 64 different languages. Prior to the arrival of the first European explorers, the native population is estimated to have been in excess of 500,000 people. [3]

Contents

About

The State Indian Museum, opened in 1940, is located at 2618 K Street Sacramento, near the intersection of 26th and K Streets. It is next to Sutter's Fort. [2] [4] Current exhibits depict three major themes of California Indian life: Nature, Spirit, and Family. Native peoples lived prosperously for thousands of years in what is now California. All of the exhibits and photographs on display in the museum are presented with respect for those who went before us on this land and continue to live in California communities today.

California Indian cultural items in the museum include traditional baskets (along with some of the smallest in the world), a redwood dugout canoe, ceremonial regalia, beadwork, and hunting & fishing tools—some of which are more than twenty-four hundred years old. There is also an exhibit depicting the life of Ishi, reputedly the last survivor of the Yahi tribe, illustrating how Native culture was powerfully impacted and forever changed when outsiders arrived. [4]

Many Native people have donated photographs of family and friends for viewing in the museum. There is also a wall of photographs devoted to honoring California Elders, and a hands-on area where visitors have the opportunity to utilize Indian tools like the pump drill, used for making holes in shell beads, and the mortar & pestle, used for grinding acorns.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacramento, California</span> Capital city of California, United States

Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 population of 524,943 makes it the fourth-most populous city in Northern California, sixth-most populous city in the state, and the ninth-most populous state capital in the United States. Sacramento is the seat of the California Legislature and the Governor of California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chumash people</span> Native American tribe of California

The Chumash are a Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, extending from Morro Bay in the north to Malibu in the south to Mt Pinos in the east. Their territory included three of the Channel Islands: Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel; the smaller island of Anacapa was likely inhabited seasonally due to the lack of a consistent water source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anderson Marsh State Historic Park</span> California state historic park

Anderson Marsh State Historic Park is a California State Historic Park and nature reserve preserving a tule marsh, archaeological sites of the Pomo people, and historic ranch structures. It is located in Lake County, California, United States. Anderson Marsh is located at the head of Cache Creek on the southeast corner of Clear Lake, the largest natural lake completely within the borders of California. The park is between the cities of Lower Lake and Clearlake on State Route 53, north of Calistoga in the wine country. The park is open year-round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park</span> State historic park in Los Angeles County, California, United States

The Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park is a state historic park of California, United States, interpreting Native American cultures of the Great Basin and surrounding regions. The park and its grounds are situated on the Antelope Valley's rural east side in northern Los Angeles County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wintu</span> Native American tribe in California

The Wintu are Native Americans who live in what is now Northern California. They are part of a loose association of peoples known collectively as the Wintun. There are four major groups that make up the Wintu people. There northern Wintun (Wintu) and the Central Wintun (Namlaki) are most common. Others are the Nomlaki and the Patwin. The Wintu language is part of the Penutian language family but there are different dialects. Before the European colonization, different Wintun communities interacted with each other but were more inclined to communicate with others tribes to the east and west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Capitol Museum</span> Museum in Sacramento, California, United States

The California State Capitol Museum consists of a museum in and grounds around the California State Capitol in Sacramento, California, United States. The building has been the home of the California State Legislature since 1869. The State Capitol Museum has been a property in the California State Parks system since 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park</span> Archaeological site in Amador county, California

Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park is a California State Park, preserving an outcropping of marbleized limestone with some 1,185 mortar holes—the largest collection of bedrock mortars in North America. It is located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, 8 miles (13 km) east of Jackson. The park is nestled in a little valley 2,400 feet (732 m) above sea level, with open meadows and large specimens of valley oak that once provided the Miwok peoples of this area with an ample supply of acorns. The 135-acre (55 ha) park was established in 1962 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

The Nomlaki are a Wintun people native to the area of the Sacramento Valley, extending westward to the Coast Range in Northern California. Today some Nomlaki people are enrolled in the federally recognized tribes: Round Valley Indian Tribes, Grindstone Indian Rancheria or the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians. The Nomlaki were bordered by the Wintu (Wintun) in the north, the Yana in the northeast and east, the Konkow (Maiduan) in the east, the Patwin (Wintun) in the south, and the Yuki in the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Center for History and Culture</span> Maryland cultural institution

The Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC), formerly the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS), founded on March 1, 1844, is the oldest cultural institution in the U.S. state of Maryland. The organization "collects, preserves, and interprets objects and materials reflecting Maryland's diverse heritage". The MCHC has a museum, library, holds educational programs, and publishes scholarly works on Maryland.

The Timbisha are a Native American tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in south central California, near the Nevada border. As of the 2010 Census the population of the Village was 124. The older members still speak the ancestral language, also called Timbisha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchell Museum of the American Indian</span>

The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian is a museum in Evanston, Illinois that focuses exclusively on the history, culture and arts of North American native peoples. It is a Core Member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance, a consortium of 25 ethnic museums and cultural centres in Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dickson Mounds</span> Native American historical site in Illinois, U.S.

Dickson Mounds is a Native American settlement site and burial mound complex near Lewistown, Illinois. It is located in Fulton County on a low bluff overlooking the Illinois River. It is a large burial complex containing at least two cemeteries, ten superimposed burial mounds, and a platform mound. The Dickson Mounds site was founded by 800 CE and was in use until after 1250 CE. The site is named in honor of chiropractor Don Dickson, who began excavating it in 1927 and opened a private museum that formerly operated on the site. Its exhibition of the 237 uncovered skeletons uncovered and displayed by Dickson was closed in 1992 by then-Gov. Jim Edgar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology</span> Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with particular focus on the ethnography and archaeology of the Americas. The museum is caretaker to over 1.2 million objects, some 900 feet (270 m) of documents, 2,000 maps and site plans, and approximately 500,000 photographs. The museum is located at Divinity Avenue on the Harvard University campus. The museum is one of the four Harvard Museums of Science and Culture open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Fonseca</span> Native American painter

Harry Eugene Fonseca was a Nisenan Native American artist, and illustrator. He was an enrolled citizen of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Indian Culture</span> U.S. organization and educational center

The Museum of Indian Culture is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and educational center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo de la Historia de Ponce</span> History museum in Ponce, Puerto Rico

The Museo de la Historia de Ponce is a local history museum located in the historic Casa Salazar-Candal in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The museum depicts the city's ecology, economy, architecture, government, and elements of daily life. It seeks to promote the research, conservation, and dissemination of the historic heritage of Ponce and Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts</span>

The Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts is operated by the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, and has been the permanent home of the Utah State Folk Arts Collection since 1987 and is the only museum in the United States that is dedicated to displaying a state-owned collection of contemporary folk art produced by its residents. It is a venue for Utah's diverse artists and communities to share their folk art including: crafts, music, and dance. In addition to rotating exhibits, annual concerts, and hands-on workshops, the Chase Home Museum houses an archive of fieldwork recordings and photographs that document Utah's folk art and traditional culture. The Chase Home Museum currently has three permanent exhibition galleries and one temporary exhibition gallery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples of California</span> Native Californians

Indigenous peoples of California, commonly known as Indigenous Californians or Native Californians, are a diverse group of nations and peoples that are indigenous to the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after European colonization. There are currently 109 federally recognized tribes in the state and over forty self-identified tribes or tribal bands that have applied for federal recognition. California has the second-largest Native American population in the United States.

Dugan Aguilar (1947–2018) was a Native American photographer whose work has been exhibited by major museums. He is "among the first Native photographers to document Native life in Yosemite and California through his own vision."

Judith Lowry is a Native American artist. Based in Northern California, she is Maidu and Achomawi and enrolled in the Pit River Tribe. Lowry primarily works in acrylics on canvas.

References

  1. "State Indian Museum". California State Parks . Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  2. 1 2 3 California State Parks, 2nd Ed. The Mountaineers Books. p. 162. ISBN   978-0-89886-932-3.
  3. "State Indian Museum". California State Parks. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 Fodor's 2008 Northern California: With Napa, Sonoma, Yosemite, San Francisco, and Lake Tahoe. Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc. 2008. p. 411. ISBN   978-1-4000-1900-7.