Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of a Washoe Indian woman carrying her papoose on her back, ca.1900. The woman is wearing a leather(?) tunic and skirt. The ends of the tunic and skirt are cut into short strips. Her outfit is decorated with hand(?) drawings. Drawings are visible on her face and hand. The papoose is snuggled in its (his/her?) papoose basket. The basket is attached to the cradle by thin ropes. The woman carries the cradle on her back with the supporting rope strapped around her head just above the forehead. Just above the baby's head is a screen made of wicker to protect the baby from the sun and possibly rain. "American Indian people of the Great Basin region of North America, who made their home around Lake Tahoe just east of the Sierra Nevada. Their peak numerical strength before contact with whites may have been 1,500, whereas today perhaps fewer than 600 remain in the original Washo territory. Linguistically isolated from the other Great Basin peoples, they have been placed in the Hokan stock. The Washo were fishermen, hunters of small mammals, and gatherers of pine nuts, acorns, and various roots and berries. They depended on deer and antelope for some of their dress and for their cone-shaped dwellings. They were especially noted for their superb basketry." -- Encyclopedia Britannica.
Type
image
Format
1 photograph : photoprint, b&w 26 x 21 cm. photographic prints photographs
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