Russ Hartman, Senior Collection Manager, Department of Anthropology

This large Klamath River storage basket is one of more than 350 Native California baskets in the Academy's collection. Recent years have seen an amazing resurgence in basketweaving among California's native people. Pesticide use, habitat destruction, loss of plant communities as a result of widespread land development, and limited access to forest lands are just a few challenges facing today's weavers, but they face these challenges head-on in an effort to preserve their cultures.

Basketmaking relates to every stage of a Native person's life: from childhood, when they are carried in cradleboards, to death, when some tribes traditionally cremate the deceased or bury a weaver's baskets with her. Native people have carefully managed California's flora to maximize their harvest of wild foods and improve the supply of basketry materials. Basket collections, such as the Academy's, aid in ecological studies that might point the way toward better stewardship of native plant communities.

Bibliographies of Northern and Central California Indians

California Academy of Sciences Department of Anthropology

Shapes and Uses of California Indian Basketry

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