October 12, 2020
By Joe D. Horse Capture, Vice President of Native Collections and Ahmanson Curator
It's one of the most significant artifacts of the Red Power era.
Kent Blansett Founder and Executive Director American Indian Digital History Project
Occupation of Alcatraz
On November 20, 1969, a group of Native Americans landed and occupied Alcatraz Island for 19 months. The initial group of over eighty occupiers referred to themselves as “Indians of All Tribes” reflecting the diversity of Native Americans in the Bay Area during this time period. The... Read more
June 23, 2020
By Amy Scott, Executive Vice President and Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross Curator of Visual Arts
Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu, Hawaiian, Portuguese, 1946–2006) was an instrumental force in reshaping Native art with his trademark blend of traditional imagery, contemporary experience, and vibrant color and form. As he used his art to explore both his personal journey and the role of history in shaping Native consciousness in the present, Fonseca sought to expand definitions of Indian art and to shatter the expectations and stereotypes that had long confined it.
Fonseca’s best... Read more
June 22, 2020
By Yuri Shimoda, CLIR Recordings at Risk Intern, Autry Museum of the American West
In September 2018, the Autry received a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Recordings at Risk grant to digitize hundreds of Native American songs, oral histories, field recordings, plays, and lectures captured on sound and audiovisual media from 1898 to 2007. The recordings were made across such a vast period of time that there were many different formats that needed to be digitized – from open reel tape, wire, and four types of discs to audiocassettes, CDs, and VHS tapes.
... Read more
April 6, 2020
By: Brittany Campbell, Public Engagement Manager and Ben Fitzsimmons, Associate Director of Programs and Research
Artistic endeavors are essential today more than ever and the Autry actively works to include the many voices of the creative communities of the American West through partnerships and public programming initiatives. We were excited to hear that The Industry, an artist-driven company creating experimental productions that expand the definition of opera, was developing an opera exploring the myths of American identity and the erasure of certain stories. Sweet Land was co-... Read more