Adjacent to Sutter's Fort, this small but carefully assembled museum presents California's Native peoples on their own terms — not as victims of colonisation (though that history is documented) but as the richest diversity of indigenous cultures in North America, with over 100 distinct groups living in California before European contact.
The permanent collection includes baskets, regalia, tools, and ceremonial objects from across California. The basketry collection is exceptional — California tribes produced some of the most refined basketwork in the world, and examples here show the extraordinary skill involved. A garden outside plants indigenous food plants with explanatory labels.