#timbisha

Two baskets by Mary Wrinkle (Panamint Shoshone, 1876-1940), ca.1925 and ca.1939 (the second one was displayed at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition).

Death Valley, CA 3.25.2017

From top to bottom, left to right:

(1) The welcome sign!  (2) View from Zabriskie Point  (3) The Mesquite Sand Dunes  (4) Mosaic Canyon  (5) View from Artist’s Drive  (6) Badwater Basin (water!)  (7) Badwater Basin (salt!)

I realized the other day that it had been awhile since I gave an update about the work I’m doing.  I guess, sometimes, I think very few people would find the world of archives to be an exciting career choice.  In the past few weeks, however, a great opportunity dropped in my lap.

 For the past month and a half, I have been processing the archives backlog at the park (referred to as DEVA an abbreviation for Death Valley National Park).  Most of the backlog consists of resource management records aka administrative records.  Suffice to say, the records haven’t been an interesting read.  One day, I came across several records that mentioned the Timbisha.  The Timbisha are a group of Indians whose reservation exists within the national park.  I’d read a few snippets about them here or there and my interest was definitely piqued.

Low and behold, I discovered that there is over 10 cubic feet of Timbisha-related records waiting to be processed.  After discussing it with my boss, the Timbisha records have become my pet project in addition to my normal responsibilities.

Over the course of processing these records, I’ve learned about the protracted fight by the Timbisha to 1.) become a federally recognized Indian tribe and 2.) secure land for a reservation.  To clarify, these records are not the records of the Timbisha Tribal government rather they are the records produced by DEVA in their work with the Timbisha.

Background

The Timbisha are part of the Shoshone tribe.  They are considered western Shoshone aka Panamint Shoshone (Panamint is the name of the nearby mountain range).  According to their creation story, Coyote carried a basket containing the Timbisha people.  One day, Coyote was tired and decided to rest.  He set the basket down and the people climbed out of the basket and made their home.  The place where Coyote set down the basket is the site of Ubehebe Crater. (See Death Valley National Park, Part 1 for photos).

 Because of the extreme conditions here, traditionally, the Timbisha would spend the winters in Death Valley and, in the summer months, go into the mountains and the higher elevations for cooler climates.  As a result of their migratory patterns, which some still do to this day, the on-site population in DEVA hasn’t been that big.

 This collection has been really eye-opening, especially some of the earlier treatment of the Timbisha at the hands of the federal government and the newly established Death Valley National Monument in the 1930s.  For decades, the Timbisha languished in poverty and poor conditions finding themselves between a rock and a hard place.  After several decades, the Timbisha organized and got federal recognition in 1983.  And, in the late 1990s, they were finally awarded 7,500 acres of land as their reservation.