Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Five stereographic views of Miwok people (Figs. 1-5) made in Sonora, California, during the 1850s are apparently the earliest photographic representations of Sierra Miwok people, and perhaps the earliest such images of any Indian people in northern California. Primarily showing individuals in ceremonial regalia, these photographs provide us with an unparalleled view of California Indians at the end of the Gold Rush period in the Mother Lode region of the Sierra Nevada.