Description
Constance Goddard DuBois (1869-1934) was a historical novelist turned ethnographer. As a young woman she wrote historical
fiction and became interested in the plight of the American Indian, especially the Mission Indians of Southern California.
She became an activist for reform in the government’s treatment of the American Indians and as a result took on personal fieldwork
to determine the conditions on Southern California reservations, especially documenting conditions of the Luiseño and Kumeyaay.
She became a member of the American Anthropological Association and the American Folk-Lore Society, and she undertook fieldwork
for the American Museum of Natural History and Alfred L. Kroeber at the University of California, Berkeley. Her personal photograph
albums, documenting the years 1897 to 1907, were donated to the Museum by Dr. Goddard DuBois in 1968. These albums contain
priceless information about the people and their living conditions on San Diego County reservations a century ago. In addition
to her own personal photographs, the albums also contain photos by Edward H. Davis (1862-1951) and other friends, with whom
Goddard DuBois traveled to different southern California reservations and missions, most notably the Mesa Grande Reservation
in San Diego, California.