New Museum Exhibit, ‘Mómtim Péwinan, River People’e

PLACERVILLE, CALIF. (InEDC) SAKURA GRAY, CBS 13, AUGUST 2, 2023, 5:34 PM

The rivers that run through Sacramento have long been intertwined with its history — bringing resources, providing transportation, and adding scenic value to the city.

The Sacramento History Museum’s new exhibit, ‘Mómtim Péwinan, River People’ is shining a light on the indigenous people who called those waters home.

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The exhibit was curated by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, descendants of the Nisenan, Miwok and Maidu peoples. It includes mannequins dressed in traditional regalia, games, and tools made with techniques passed down for generations. The museum stands on Nisenan land and displays include natural materials found in the local landscape.

Mómtim Péwinan translates from the Nisenan language to “River People.” The exhibit’s title symbolizes the relationship between these tribes and the resources they utilized from the waterways.

“California Indians settled along the riverways so a lot of us consider ourselves River People,” Jacky Calanchini, a tribal curator with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, said.

Rather than a display of relics from the past, tribal artisans worked to revitalize past knowledge and create each piece specifically for this exhibit. It took months and patience to tend to, harvest, and transform the materials into the final result.

“We’re doing the techniques and assembly and processing using the appropriate plants and materials the way our ancestors did, the way our grandparents did,” Calanchini said.

These indigenous groups work to maintain their knowledge of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. This is an understanding of horticulture techniques including land and resource management.

“Everything that is in traditional regalia came from the land and so the shells, pine nuts, feathers, all of the birds, all of the plants that it takes to construct and build these items are very important to tribal people,” said Malissa Tayaba, the vice chair of Shingle Springs Rancheria.

“I think it’s important for non-natives to understand why land is so important to native people,” she said.

The exhibit is what the museum calls a “living history.” As it showcases Nisenan culture, it also reveals how the traditions have endured through the modern age.

“The exhibit is full of color, full of life. It’s not an ancient civilization that we’re studying. We’re talking about a living breathing culture,” said Delta Pick Mello, the executive director of the Sacramento History Museum.