Mountain Maidu Stewardship of Ancestral Lands

Congratulations are in order for the Maidu Summit Consortium. Pretty wonderful news.

Mapping Heritage, 'Shooting our Imaginations': Early Works by Frank Day

More information here.

28th Annual California Indian Conference

The Ethnic Studies Department at California State University, Sacramento is hosting the 28th Annual California Indian Conference here on campus, from October 3-5, 2013. The conference also maintains a Facebook Page. The Conference is a wonderful gathering of scholars, artists, activists and California Indian youths and elders. Although it is free and open to all, you need to download and complete the registration form to assist the Planning Committee in estimating necessary seating, refreshments, and the like. The University Union Gallery, Anthropology Museum, Library, and Archives and Special Collections are all hosting related exhibits. I am curating (with anthropology graduate student Valerie Garcia) an exhibit of Frank Day paintings that will be shown in the University Union Gallery (opening reception on October 3, from 5:30-7:30 pm). Be sure to come by and  say hello. And stop by the other exhibits during this time as well!

Honored Elders Day, California State Indian Museum, June 8, 2013

In 1978, Marie Potts (1895-1978) was recognized as the California State Indian Museum's first Honored Elder. The annual event will run tomorrow until 1:30 p.m.*

*closing earlier than originally planned due to predictions of extreme heat.

First Families Exhibit Opens March 7

Valentine's Day

While the Smoke Signal was primarily a vehicle for delivering news about California Indian land claims cases, it also offered holiday greetings and news of upcoming dances and other opportunities for socializing, as seen in these examples drawn from the early 1950s.

Stay tuned (or email me) for information about the West Sacramento Historical Society exhibit "First Families," opening in early March.

Happy New Year

The December 1949 issue of the Smoke Signal offered a New Year's greeting to the membership. Notice the addressee in the upper right-hand corner of this issue.  Edna and Saturino Calac hailed from Rincon Reservation, in San Diego County. Their choice to back the FIC land claim petition (versus that of the Mission Indians) reflects the political potential of social affiliations forged in boarding school contexts, including Stewart and Carlisle. For instance, Marie Potts and Peter Calac (who gained national fame as a member of the school's football team) overlapped at the Carlisle from 1912-1915.