|
|
| This Curtis image inspired the lead photo in this website. |
Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian: Photographic Images a joint project of the Library of Congress and the Northwestern University Library, this website is the
portal to 2,000 early 20th century photogravure plates and narratives in which Curtis depicted the traditional customs
and lifeways of eighty Indian tribes.
The North Fork Racheria of Mono Indians
is the present-day community from which my family originates. Their site includes
historical, cultural and current information on the tribe and its projects and photos of some folks who are probably relatives.
Our tribe maintains the Sierra Mono Museum in North Fork. Beautiful examples of tribal art are on public display and a tax-deductable annual membership includes a newsletter
subscription and the good feeling that you're helping their outreach and educational programs survive.
The Indian Arts and Crafts Association is an international organization whose mission is to support the effective protection and ethical promotion of authentic American
Indian arts and crafts.
News from Native California is a quarterly magazine devoted to California's indigenous people. Its published by the non-profit arm of Heyday Books, a wonderful source of material on California and its Natives.
|
| Mono neighbors: Chukchansi (Yokuts) cradleboard by Curtis. |
Lois Conner is a talented contemporary weaver of Mono and Chukchansi–Yokuts
ancestry who is keeping the traditional arts alive today. Her site has fascinating details on the raw materials for baskets, a
primer on cradleboards, soaproot brushes and photos of some of the amazing items she crafts for sale. If Lena was still
collecting today, she'd definitely want some of Lois' baskets!
Through the mid-1990's the University of California, Berkley drove the California Indian
Library Collections Project to catalogue and facilitate access to literature and other historical materials on all California tribes. Their impressive Mono Bibliography is here.
And finally, my mother, Mary Louise Burris, is a charter member of the Wellspring
Society of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C. and she'd never forgive us for not including a link for it. Of paricular interest
is this online exhibition focusing on basket weaving from the weaver's perspective.
|
