Carrie's Anthropology 196m Blog

I got the events schedule today at work for the Native American Culture Days held at UC Davis. They are doing a lot of great stuff for the week (April 5-11), but they are presenting a lecture that I thought sounded particularly interesting:

Traditional and Contemporary Uses of Plant Materials by California Indians; Tuesday April 6 12:00 -1:00 Hart Hall 3201
presented by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) partnering with the California Indian Basketweavers Association (CIBA)
Basketry techniques as well as plant use and management for different goods will be demonstrated and discussed. Current natural resource issues for weavers and others will be discussed.

I'm considering going, even though it is inconveniently occurring the day before our opening. I would still make it to the museum in the afternoon at least. I'd have to miss folklore that day too, so I'll have to talk to Dr. Bishop...but it sounds so cool.

Anyone else interested in going?

for more info: http://ccc.ucdavis.edu/culture_weeks/nacd.html

given to me today by Laura, who did awesome research at the Library...

I used to think that history was a thing you saw in books;

It always seemed to be there,
You never had to look.

One day I heard there used to be some History of this town
But when I went to look for it
No one had wrote it down

How do you find your History when you don't know where to look?
How do you know what happened
When there's nothing in the Book?

You start to do some asking and you really look around,
and bit by bit you dig it out
until you've got some found.

You listen to the old folks and you study the artifacts,
and you put the bits together
'til you see just how the stack.

And, finally you get a story even though it's not that much;
as long as you can reach it, then
It's History you can touch.

You find the gentle Miwoks with their acorn grinding stones,
and the people who dug their graves up
Just to rearrange their bones.

Michigan Bar and Sloughhouse, where the stagecoach made its stops
where they carried all the gold out
through the valley of the hops

You find out who lived in Wilton and in Franklin and Elk Grove.
And you get to know a lot about the Sheldons, Kerrs, and Rhoades.

It is written on the tombstones and it's buried in the ground;
It's in the memories of the old ones
that's how your History is found.

-Elizabeth Pinkerton, (from the book: Historic Cosumnes and the Sloughhouse Pioneer Cemetery by Norma Baldwin Ricketts)

I'm not sure who Elizabeth Pinkerton is, but I seem to remember that surname in my research somewhere. Anyways, I thought it was cool, especially since it mentions our collectors grandparents (Sheldon and Rhoades).

Free museums tomorrow! www.sacmuseums.org/museumday.html