California Indian Basket Museum Collections

California has many museums with Indian basket collections not listed here. We will continue to add other museums as we find them. The collections may range from several baskets to spectacular varieties of hand woven baskets and bowls made by California tribes and Native Americans beyond California. Before you plan a trip to one of the listed museums, always confirm hours, prices and availability of collections. The best method of doing so is by calling and speaking personally to individuals at the museums. Many museums have collections that archived an inventory but not available for the public to see without appointment. Be sure that the baskets are available for viewing or you may require special arrangements to see them.


BERKELEY hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
This museum in Berkeley, CA houses a research collection of approximately 9,000 California Indian baskets and over 12,000 North American baskets IN Blair Memorial Basket Collection, Basketry Research Center.

CRESCENT CITY delnortehistory.org
Del Norte County Historical Society
577 H Street
Crescent City, CA 95531
Perhaps the Main Museum is best known for one of the finest collections of Native American basketry by the Tollowa and Yurok Indians, and many other Native American artifacts.

EUREKA clarkemuseum.org
Clarke Historical Museum
Corner of 3rd and E
Eureka, Calif.

Clarke Historical Museum Native American Wing features a world-recognized collection of Northwestern Native American baskets. The museum gift store has featured books, including baskets and basket weaving.

LAKEPORT
The Historic Courthouse Museum is Lake County's premier museum of county and Native American history.
Open 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and Noon - 4 p.m. Sunday.
The museum is closed for the following holidays: New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day.
The museum is open with limited hours on the following special days: Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Labor Day and the Friday following Thanksgiving.
255 North Main Street
Lakeport, California 95453
co.lake.ca.us

LOS ANGELES

The Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection
theautry.org
includes a 238,000-piece collection of Native American art and artifacts that is one of the most significant and representative of its kind in the United States, second only to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. Composed of 14,000 baskets

LOS ANGELES oac.cdlib.org
The UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History's collection includes baskets made by California American Indians in the 19th and early 20th century. The baskets represent works from the Panamint Shoshone (Timbisha Shoshone Tribe), a western division of the Shoshonean peoples, located east of the Sierra Divide in Central California; the Pomo Indians located on the Northern coast of California; the Shasta Indians located on the Oregon border of California; and the Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk tribes in Northwestern California.

NORTH FORK sierramonomuseum.org
Sierra Mono Museum
33103 Road 228
North Fork, California
Located in the town of North Fork, California. Free Admission and plenty of parking. Accessible to those with disabilities. Directions: HWY 41 Southern Yosemite turn on to Road 200 to North Fork [17 miles] drive through main street area, past Tribal Office and up hill, directly across large totem pole at intersection Road 274 & 200. Permanent collections include a wide variety of Native American baskets and cultural artifacts. Native American basket collection has a wide variety of styles from many tribes. the main focus is on Cradle Baskets [huup] made from Sourberry shoots, split winter redbud, split sedge roots, chaparral [buckbrush] shoots, yarn red earth pigments and leather. Cradle Baskets are still used today for a newborn up to two years old.

OAKLAND -
Oakland Museum
of California
1000 Oak St.
Oakland, CA 94607
 museumca.org
$fee
American Indian Collections
he Native Californian basket collection at the Oakland Museum of California encompasses approximately 2,500 baskets from nearly all of the geographic and cultural regions of the state, including more than 50 tribal groups.
Over 6,000 Artifacts relating to North American Indians
The California Indian collections contain everyday and ceremonial objects, including thousands of baskets from hundreds of Native cultural groups across the state. Charles Wilcomb, the founding director of the History Department, began the collection in the early 20th century with a particular focus on the tribes of the Central Valley and Northwest and Northeast of the state.

The California Indian collections include amazing feathered baskets from the Pomo and Wintu, extremely fine basket hats from the Hupa and Karok, and magnificent ornaments made from shell, beads, seeds, and feathers used in Native dance. Collections also include Southwestern Indian pottery, weaving, and silver jewelry; and Pacific Northwest carvings, boxes and clothing. Some artifacts are the only examples of their kind remaining in the world.

OAKLAND
Entrance to the Mills College Art Museum
Mills College Art Museum
5000 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94613
mills.edu
Free for all exhibitions and programs, check to confirm.
Public Tours
Docent-led tours of exhibitions are available by appointment.
The museum's collection of approximately 150 Native American baskets is rich in works by California's native peoples. In particular, the collection of Pomo baskets exhibits a variety of size, function, weave, and decoration.

Many of the baskets in the collection are from the Yurok, Karok, and Hupa tribes of northernmost California. The collection also contains baskets of the Cahuilla, Pit River, Mono, and other groups native to California. Many of the baskets in the museum's collection were donated by Mills College founders Cyrus and Susan Mills and former College President Aurelia Henry Reinhardt.

PALM SPRINGS accmuseum.org
Agua Caliente Cultural Museum
The Museum is located on the Village Green Heritage Center in the heart of downtown Palm Springs at 219 South Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, California
$free, please confirm
A southern California basket collection of over 400 items features the works of Cahuilla basketweavers and their neighboring tribes. It is an excellent resource for comparative studies of styles, techniques, and materials.

POMONA
333 N. College Avenue Claremont CA,
pomona.edu
Other gifts to either Claremont College or Pomona College were soon forthcoming. The collection today is the result of the generosity of 14 individuals. Most unusual as a collector among them was Emil P. Steffa. During his years as a student at Pomona College (1895-1899), Steffa worked closely with Dr. David Burrows, a specialist in the ethnohistory of the Cahuilla. He was an unusual collector for his time because of his scientific approach to his large basket collection.

RIVERSIDE riversideca.gov
3580 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501
Heritage House
Address:
8193 Magnolia Ave.
Riverside, CA 92504
Native American of Southern California
Southern California is home to unique and diverse Native American populations. From the coastal Chumash to the Kumeyaay, California's first people provide a look into Native American life throughout time -yesterday and today. Explore Native American life through basketry, tools, clothing, and other material culture on exhibit as well as Riverside's local village site, Spring Rancheria.

SACRAMENTO
State Indian Museum
2618 K Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
California Indian Baskets
$fee

Admission to the Museum includes viewing of our exhibits on traditional dance regalia and basketry. The Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday (closed Monday and Tuesday), closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.

SAN DIEGO museumofman.org
San Diego Museum of Man 1350 El Prado, Balboa Park • San Diego, CA 92101
Kumeyaay: Native Californians
This ongoing exhibit is now open to the public.
The Kumeyaay, or Diegueño (as they were later called by the Spanish), are the Native American people of present-day Southern California (San Diego and western Imperial Counties) and Northern Baja. For many generations before the arrival of the Spanish, they occupied the deserts, mountains, and coasts, developing sophisticated means of adapting to the diverse environments.

With the arrival of Spanish settlers in the mid 1700s, Kumeyaay lifeways had to change and adapt, often by force. Today, the Kumeyaay are present in thirteen bands located on reservations throughout San Diego County, with four additional bands in present day Baja, Mexico:

Campo Band of the Kumeyaay Nation
Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians
Barona Band of Mission Indians
San Pasqual Band of Indians
Inaja Cosmit Indian Reservation
Capitan Grande Indian Reservation
Santa Ysabel Band of Diegueño Indians, aka Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel
Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians aka Cuyapaipe
Manzanita Indian Reservation
La Posta Indian Reservation
Jamul Indian Village A Kumeyaay Nation
Mesa Grande Indian Reservation
Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation
In Baja, Mexico: La Huerta, Juntas de Nejí, San Antonio Necua, and San José de la Zorra
The exhibit explores traditional Kumeyaay lifeways, featuring the art of pottery and basket making, food procurement, dress and adornment, traditional medicine, games, and ceremonies. Artifacts and photographs from the museum's collection highlight the rich cultural heritage of the Kumeyaay, offering a glimpse of the life of the ancestors of today's present day people.

SAN FRANCISCO calacademy.org
Location
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118
calacademy.org
$fee
1916 Native American Baskets
The Fitzhugh-Lowe collection is installed in the new 170 foot-long gallery. Academy President Grunsky notes that Basket Hall is usually crowded… visitors are observed to tarry long, studying the objects critically.”

SANTA ANA bowers.org
2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana, CA 92706
Tickets can also be purchased at the Bowers Visitor Services Center.
This installation showcases the Bowers' extensive permanent collection of Native American art and artifacts in stone, shell, plant fiber (through spectacular basketry) and feathers. These primary resources help tell the story of the culture of Native Californians. Although groups from all regions of California are represented in the exhibit, special attention is placed on local groups that inhabited the coastal regions of Southern California.

SANTA ROSA cimcc.org
The California Indian Museum and Cultural Center
(Indian owned and operated non-profit organization)
5250 Aero Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
$ fee charged
Museum located in Santa Rosa, CA portrays California Indian history and culture, including basketry. Lectures and programs regularly feature basketry. An online educational program on California Indian Basketry is available.

TAHOE CITY
Gatekeeper's Museum
Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Museum
130 West Lake Blvd.
PO Box 6141
Tahoe City, CA 96145
northtahoemuseums.org
Marian Steinbach Indian Basket Museum
The Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Museum was added to the Gatekeeper's Museum in 1992, after her personal collection was donated to NLTHS.

Marion Steinbach pursued a wide variety of interests throughout her lifetime, and loved anything that had to do with nature—the study of which inspired her collections.

Throughout her lifetime, Marion amassed a world-class collection of over 800 utilitarian and fine baskets from 85 tribes throughout California and western North America. In addition to collecting baskets, Marion also collected Native clothing, jewelry, tools and pottery. Pottery from Maria Martinez is featured in the collection.

Desire for knowledge about the art of basket weaving sent Marion looking for the few contemporary Indian women who were weaving fine baskets using traditional methods. Trips to remote areas frequently led to an afternoon sitting under a big shady oak tree, visiting with a weaver. Marion cultivated relationships with these women, and would sit with her notebook and pencil, taking meticulous notes, trying to learn as much as she could about this art. Her fear was that one day, these women of great skill would be gone and fine basketmaking would become a lost art. Sharing her knowledge by teaching basket weaving classes, talking with others and showing her baskets gave Marion much pleasure.

Along with her collection were extensive notes about basketry techniques and records of where, when and how much she originally paid for each basket. The collection was her treasure that she wanted to share with others. Her wish was that the baskets remain together displayed as a single collection. After her passing, the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society received the collection from Marion's family, and helped to realize Marion's dream with the construction of the Steinbach Indian Basket Museum to house her collection.