Note: This is a hybrid event! We invite you to join us in-person at a new location, the Santa Cruz Elks Lodge, 150 Jewell Street Santa Cruz, 95060, or via Zoom (see below for Zoom registration form)!
Join SCAS for a presentation by Dr. John Pryor on: “Papa Quail Pomo Basket Project.”
DATE: Thursday, November 6, 2025
TIME: 7:30 – 8:30 PM (Pacific)
ZOOM REGISTRATION FORM: Meeting Registration – Zoom RSVP for Zoom by 6:30 PM on Thursday, November 6, 2025
Dr. John Pryor’s talk will focus on his dissertation research on Pomo Baskets, conducted forty years ago, when he photographed over 1200 baskets from major museums and private collections. He knew what villages the baskets came from, and in some cases, he even knew the names of the weavers. The baskets dated to between the late 1800s and the 1980s. John worked with some famous basket weavers, including Mabel McKay and Elsie Allen. His research focused on the question of style. Why do some groups use similar styles and others use different styles? He will talk about his adventures in the basements of major museums, and dealing with private basket collectors, along with the results of his studies. Recently retired from teaching, John is returning to his basket research and is digitizing his photos with the goal of giving back to the weaving communities, what he feels is long overdue. While it is not the same as returning the baskets themselves, at least the photos of the baskets themselves can become a cultural resource and a source of data. Furthermore, he would also be happy to mentor tribal scholars with their own research of the baskets, in order to further their academic careers.
Dr. John Pryor is recently retired from the Anthropology Department at CSU-Fresno. His area of expertise is California Archeology, and he has over 50 years of field experience, mostly working in California, but he has also done archaeology in the Eastern U.S., and in England. He received his B.A. from UC Santa Cruz in 1979, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from New York State University at Binghamton. Over the last 30 years, John has worked with and for Native Californian Peoples, including the Table Mountain, Santa Rosa, and Picayune Rancherias, as well as the Choinumni, Haslett Basin Mono and the Southern Sierra Miwok tribal groups.
