The Autry

Remembering the late Marshall McKay's "immense capacity for intangibles like human empathy, human connection," via All Things Considered interview with Autry President Rick West. https://laist.com//marshall-mckay-covid-19-coronavirus-obi

Rest In Peace to Tom LaBonge, Autry friend and champion of Griffith Park. He graciously shared his love and knowledge of the park with us while we worked on our exhibition, Investigating Griffith Park. Here he is leading a 4 hour tour of his favorite spots in GP.

Rest In Peace, our dear, beloved friend, Marshall McKay (1952-2020).

With deep sadness, the Tribal Council of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation announces the death of Marshall McKay following his battle with COVID-19. Speaking as one,... the Yocha Dehe Tribal Council issued the following statement: We know our pain is shared by so many families facing the devastating effects of this pandemic. We know also the pain of Marshall’s loss is shared by the many who loved him and learned from him. We will miss his strength and wisdom. He was a resolute protector of Native American heritage here, within our own homeland, but also throughout California and Indian Country. For 31 years, from 1984 to 2015, Marshall McKay served as a member of the Yocha Dehe Tribal Council, elected to lead the Tribe as its Chairman for nearly a decade of that time. He continued to serve on many of the Tribe’s governmental bodies, including the Board of Directors for Cache Creek Casino Resort. Marshall’s leadership was marked by a stalwart dedication to the preservation and promotion of Native American arts and culture, the affirmation of sovereign tribal governance, and the international effort to protect the rights of all indigenous people. He was instrumental in helping Yocha Dehe achieve economic independence, he helped the Tribe grow and diversify its agricultural operations, and he helped greatly expand the Tribe’s land holdings within Yocha Dehe’s ancestral territory. The son of the renowned healer and basket weaver Mabel McKay, Marshall possessed a deep passion and appreciation for Native art as a means for Native people to tell their stories and preserve their histories. Marshall was a founding member of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and he was appointed to the Board for Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He also was the first Native American to be appointed Chairman of the Board for the Autry National Center (which includes the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the American West, and the Institute for the Study of the American West). Marshall was a fierce advocate for the environment and tribal land rights, and a champion for sustainable living and land-use practices. He was dedicated to protecting tribal sovereignty and the rights of Native tribes and peoples, serving on the Board of the Native American Rights Fund. He was a Founding Commissioner of the California Native American Heritage Commission, whose charge is to protect Native American cultural resources, including places of religious and social significance to Native peoples, such as tribal cemeteries on private and public lands. Marshall was the first of his tribe to attend college - Sonoma State University. He spent 15 years repairing and maintaining nuclear submarines for the Department of Defense, ultimately supervising those work crews. Born in Colusa near his tribal home within Yolo County’s Capay Valley, Marshall was deeply devoted to his family and tribal community. The Tribe is profoundly grateful for the care Marshall received from frontline healthcare workers in Los Angeles where his illness developed, an area particularly hard-hit by the pandemic. See more

Rest In Peace to our dear, beloved friend, Marshall McKay, Autry Chairman Emeritus, and our deepest condolences to his family. We will share more memories in the days and weeks to come. As we close out the final hours of 2020, we keep his memory warm and alive in our hearts. Please visit http://bit.ly/384pd6G for a remembrance from his tribe, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.

New Video Tutorial: Crocheting the Collection This new series teaches the relaxing and creative craft of crochet using the Autry's collection as inspiration. Instructor Julie Kadoi takes you through the steps to make a range of projects. In this first lesson, appropriate for all levels, learn to make striped dishcloths. bit.ly/37Q47HM

Now through December 15, receive 10% off ALL purchases at the Autry Store by using the case sensitive offer code: GIFT TIME. Pick up unique pieces like this Jemez Pueblo Storyteller Santa, clothes, books, art, and more! https://bit.ly/3oo6po9

Enjoy this piece by Chris Pierce, then head over to the Autry Salon Series page to hear more of Pierce’s music and a fascinating conversation between him and David Cartwright, Chair of the Autry Board of Trustees. https://theautry.org/PastArtistsSalons

Presenting iconic wilderness advocate John Muir as a starting point, this video conversation explores issues of access to public lands and the dispossession of Native people. Featuring Leah Mata-Fragua (Northern Chumash); Ron Goode (North Fork Mono); Sandy Hernandez, Latino Outdoors; and Char Miller, Pomona College.

Looking for gifts for loved ones (or be honest, yourself)? Check out the Autry Store. The Autry Store carries a vast array of unique itemsfrom books to music to fine artincluding a large selection of Native American jewelry, pottery, and baskets. https://shop.theautry.org/

Watch an introduction to When I Remember I See Red. The exhibition features Native California artists who have used their work as a means of cultural resistance and renewal. http://ow.ly/TTPt50C7wLR #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth

#AutryMarketplace is going virtual! Join us online 11/14-15 and interact with, and buy work from Native artists. Enjoy complimentary programming, including fascinating talks, film programs, and Native Voices at the Autry's Short Play Festival. Learn more: http://TheAutry.org/Marketplace

Explores the work of women as told through photographs, letters, and diaries in What's Her Story: Women in the Archives. This online exhibition reveals compelling events in the lives of 20th- and 21st-century women and highlights how they document their activities in their own voices, preserving a legacy and the archivists’ work that makes these stories discoverable. #ArchivingWomen https://theautry.org//whats-her-story-women-in-the-archives

Now Online!: What’s Her Story: Women in the Archives explores the work of women as told through photographs, letters, and diaries. This exhibition reveals compelling events in the lives of 20th- and 21st-century women and highlights how they document their activities in their own voicespreserving a legacy and the archivists’ work that makes these stories discoverable. #ArchivingWomen The exhibition was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tonight @ 6:30 pm: Join W. Richard West, Jr., the Autry's President and CEO, and Walter R. Echo-Hawk, Native American author and attorney, as they discuss Echo-Hawk's book, In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided. #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth

This #GivingTuesday, consider joining the #AutryCampaign to support the Autry’s efforts to challenge the past, discover the present, and celebrate the future with public programming and educational initiatives engaging multigenerational audiences. Learn more at http://TheAutry.org/Campaign! https://youtu.be/KgeS-aw7DsI

The Autry wants you...to participate in the Collecting Community History Initiative: Electoral Politics in the West, the Autry's effort to document and preserve this critical moment in political history. Learn more!

Wishing all of you on the interweb a Happy Halloween. Carl Eytel, TARANTULAS, drawing, 1900-1906.

Get into the Halloween spirit as Josh Garrett-Davis, Autry curator, and Brad Sykes, author of Terror in the Desert: Dark Cinema of the American Southwest, discuss the genre of Western horror and its use of the desert landscape. The page also includes 10 film suggestions from Sykes for your at-home Halloween scare-a-thon.

Warm autumn greetings from the Autry Museum family to yours. : Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu/Native Hawaiian/Portuguese, 19462006), Autumn Sonata #31A . Autry Museum; 2016.10.209

This Thursday, join us for a special 2020 election Autry Office Hours with the Autry's Tyree Boyd-Pates. He will introduce the new iteration of Collecting Community History Initiative, Electoral Politics in the West. Considering the historical moment and nature of this year's election, the Autry seeks your help to document, collect, catalog, and preserve this critical moment in political history within the American West. Join us and bring your questions!

10/29: Join us for a conversation with the director of Gather: The Fight to Revitalize Our Native Foodways.

Tuesday, 10/20 @ 6:30 p.m.: In this workshop series created by Raina J. León, learn from the visionary practices of guerrilla archivists and community organizers who preserve community histories for the benefit of future generations.

For the first time, the logbook from the Alcatraz Occupation is presented digitally to the public! Considered one of the most important objects from the Red Power era, the logbook holds the names of the individuals present during the 19-month long protest when 89 American Indians and their supporters occupied Alcatraz Island. Browse through the book to see the names of people present during the and read as Joe D. Horse Capture (A’aninin), Autry Vice President of Native Collections and Ahmanson Curator of Native American History and Culture, reflects on the occupation.

Join Ojibwe Bead artist Summer F. Peters (Saginaw Chippewa) and Joe Horse Capture, Vice President of Native Collections & the Ahmanson Curator of Native American History and Culture, as they discuss her work and participation in Indian Markets.

"My Ancestors sang these glorious baskets to life with their bone awls and abalone soaking dishes. I am not my Ancestors....with my metal tools and Starbucks coffee cooling on the table. But like them, I am part dreamer and part mathematician--and like them, I am weaving my stories into an object that can be held in your hands." Tima Lotah Link, Shmuwich Chumash Weaver (@timaoutside) The museum has over 14,000 baskets in its collection representing Indigenous peoples in two hemispheres, here are three Chumash baskets.