Select a Region Below Most Applicable to Your Needs

Northwest Coast	Sacramento Valley & Foothills	Shasta	Central Coast & Bay Area
Southern Coast	San Joaquin Valley & Foothills	Southern California Deserts	Eastern Sierra

-- Generally Informative Books

Here are some books that are good sources of general information about California's indigenous people. Incidentally, there is a fine bibliography for Northern and Central California available through the California Indian Library Collection at Berkeley.

• Sturtevant, William C. (gen.ed.) and Robert F. Heizer (vol.ed.). Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 8, California (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978)
  A collection of essays by leading authorities, comprehensively reviewing all aspects of indigenous life in Califoria. (Note the Handbook's division into study-regions includes portions of Eastern California in the Great Basin region covered by Vol. 11.)
• Kroeber, A. L. Handbook of the Indians of California (New York: Dover Publications, 1976)
  Alfred Kroeber's classic opus on California Indians, first published in 1925.
  This text is now available in digital form at The Claremont Colleges Digital Library (CCDL). Just follow this link.
• Powers, Stephen. Tribes of California (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1976)
  First published in 1877, the earliest attempt at a comprehensive study of California Indians. This volume includes an introduction and annotations by Robert F. Heizer.
• Eargle, Dolan H., Jr. California Indian Country: The Land and the People (San Francisco, CA: Trees Company Press, 1992)
  A very helpful introduction to California's indigenous people and their lifeways with emphasis on presentday concentrations of native populations, rancherias, reservations, etc. A good basic guide to what is happening currently.
• Heizer, Robert H. and Albert B. Elsasser. The Natural World of the California Indians (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1980)
  This is a very informative and reasonably short overview of California, with special emphasis on the relationship between culture and environment.
• Vane, Sylvia Brakke and Lowell John Bean. California Indians: Primary Resources, A Guide to Manuscripts, Artifacts, Documents, Serials, Music, and Illustrations. (Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press, 1990)
  Here is the definitive compendium of research materials for California's indigenous people. Of greatest usefulness is a county-by-county list of resources; however, the volume also includes a directory to California materials found in other states and even other countries.

-- Useful Maps

Here are some useful maps of California that demonstrate various aspects of Native cultures and lifeways.

• Landform Map of California
  By permission of Ray Sterner, Color Landform Atlas of the US
• Chief Ecological Regions of California
  See also Allan A. Schoenherr. A Natural History of California (University of California Press, 1992) and Robert F. Heizer & Albert B. Elsasser. The Natural World of the California Indians (Unviersity of California Press, 1980).
  [Click on any map to see an enlargement.]
  • Coastal
  • Riverine
  • Lakeshore
  • Valley
  • Foothill
  • Desert
• Maps available from the California Indian Library Collection
  • Tribal Map
  • Language Map
  • County Map

-- Web Resources Especially for California

Here are some Web locations for general historical and cultural information on California's indigenous people.

• UCLA, American Indian Studies Center
• UC, Berkeley, Anthropology Department
• CSU, Humboldt, Native American Studies
• California Indian Library Collections
• Native Americans and the Environment
• Federal Inequities and California Indians
• California Indian Basketry