A "Growing Evil" or "Inventive Genius": Anglo Perceptions of Indian Life in San Diego, 1850 to 1900

Abstract

the October 1892 edition of the Californian Illustrated Magazine (cim), Jeanne C. Carr, friend and muse to the naturalist John Muir, introduced her readers to the art and skill of Indian basket making as practiced among the Mission Indians living in San Diego County.1 Able to observe several women engaged in the activity, Carr honored their skill level with her descriptions, claiming, Among primitive arts, basketry also furnishes the most striking illustration of the inventive genius, fertility of resource and almost incredible patience of the Indian women.2 Her venture to San Diego reservations was not Carr's first; one year earlier she learned of coras, or baskets, and detailed her discovery in an ethnographic account for cim readers. In a story entitled The Blessed Cora of San Luis Rey, Carr told of meeting Conchita, a young Indian girl who worked as a maid in a local boarding house and served as Carr's interpreter and field guide during her stay in the area. Through Conchita, Carr met three generations of Indian basket makers Conchita's mother, Luisa; grandmother, Gabriella; and great-grandmother, Antonina who all lived on a rancheria isolated from Anglo contact. Pictured working on a cora in front of their rural home, the women illustrated a cultural productivity to the Anglo-American national readership that embraced two competing forces: romantic expressions and industrious expectations forced on Indians by Anglo-Americans.3