The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Summer 1984, Volume 30, Number 3
Thomas L. Scharf, Editor
Book Notes
Raymond Starr, Book Review Editor
Rods, Bundles & Stitches: A Century of Southern California Indian Basketry. Edited by Paul A. Lopez and Christopher L. Moser. Riverside: Riverside Museum Press. 1981. Appendices. Illustrations. Bibliography. 240 Pages. $30.00 Paperbound.
Rods, Bundles & Stitches is one of the most beautiful books on a Southern California topic to be published in recent years. While the text on the Indian setting, uses of baskets, materials, techniques, styles and makers of baskets is informative and interesting, it is the photographs (many in color) which make the book truly spectacular. The book was prepared as the catalog for an exhibition of Southern California Indian basketry. It becomes an excellent source on the type and styles of Southern California baskets and would be a “must” for any collector or museum with a basket collection. Rods, Bundles & Stitches is of special interest to San Diego historians and basket collectors because of an appendix containing an autobiography of Justin F. Farmer and a description of Diegueno basket weaving practiced in San Diego County, especially by his grandmother, Bernardine Osuna, and her descendants. This beautiful book was published in a relatively small edition, and is already almost out of print. It is destined to become a collector’s item.