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Barbara Drake Collection
H.Mss.1122
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Title: Barbara Drake Collection
Dates: 1951-2006 and undated
Bulk Dates: 1970-1999
Collection number: H.Mss.1122
Creator:
Drake, Barbara
Extent:
14 Linear Feet
(9 records boxes + 1 document box + 1 flat box + 1 oversized
folder)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, The Claremont
Colleges Library, Claremont, CA 91711.
Abstract: Assembled by Barbara
Drake (1940-2020), Gabrieleño/Tongva Elder, cultural ambassador, and educator, this
collection contains Barbara Drake's personal files including biographical information and
documents from her many speaking/teaching engagements at local schools, museums, and other
community events, as well as her educational materials and research materials. Included in
her papers are the curriculum and teaching materials she developed and used for her many
workshops and classes as she worked tirelessly for the revival of reciprocal relations with
the land and played a key role in Tongva cultural revitalization. One of the founding
members of Mother Earth Clan, Cultural Keepers, and the Chia Cafe Collective, Barbara was
known as "Auntie Barbara" by students, faculty, and staff at The Claremont Colleges and was
instrumental in fostering collaboration between the local Tongva community and
Claremont.
Language of Material: Languages represented in the
collection: English.
Administrative Information
Collection open for research.
All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to
Special Collections.
[Identification of item], Barbara Drake Collection (H.Mss.1122). Special Collections and
Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont Colleges Services, Claremont,
CA.
Provenance/Source of Aquisition
Gift, Gary Drake (spouse) and Lori Reisbig (daughter), 2021.
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
Processed by Ciara Hernandez (Claremont Graduate University) and Daniel Talamantes
(Claremont Graduate University) in Fall 2022 in the Claremont Center for Engagement with
Primary Sources (CCEPS), with funding from Claremont Graduate University's 2021 BLAIS
Challenge Grant Program.
Collection was minimally processed at the folder level. Most materials were removed from
binders, rehoused in acid free folders and placed within archival storage boxes.
Biography / Administrative History
Born in West Los Angeles in 1940 to Tongva mother Dolores Lola Lassos and Anglo father
Charles Milton Scott, Barbara Drake (née Barbara Ann Scott), was an enrolled member of The
Gabrieleño/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians and served as Tribal Secretary for
many years and she worked in Indian Education Title VII for San Bernardino Schools. She gave
lectures on ethnoecology at Pitzer College since 1993.
Barbara was dedicated to introducing people of all ages "to seeing the natural world in
different ways—as the center of all life, as cultural history, as storytelling, as
tradition, as part of holistic community building," and it was important to her to convey
these ideas to children and attendees at her many teaching/speaking engagements.
Barbara was cultural ambassador and visiting educator in Southern California Schools,
museums, and cultural heritage organizations where she worked tirelessly for the revival of
reciprocal relations with the land and played a key role in Tongva cultural revitalization.
Included in her papers are the curriculum and teaching materials she developed and used for
her many workshops and classes, such as a Native Plants class that she taught for 25 years
at Idyllwild Arts' Summer Program, and Pitzer's Leadership in Environmental Education
Program (LEEP), where Barbara introduced hundreds of children to Tongva perspectives on the
environment. And she served as consultant on many botanical gardens, notably the Autry
Museum of the American West and at Pitzer College.
One of the founding members of Mother Earth Clan, Cultural Keepers, and the Chia Cafe
Collective, Barbara was known as "Auntie Barbara" by students, faculty, and staff at The
Claremont Colleges and was instrumental in fostering collaboration between the local Tongva
community and Claremont. She will always be remembered for her boundless care, mentorship,
joy, wisdom, and knowledge by her students, friends, and family. Barbara Drake passed away
in November 2020.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The collection contains a wide variety of printed matter and artifacts that range from
articles on Indigenous knowledge and customs to personal clippings of recipes selected by
Barbara Drake. Her pedagogical practices are documented in Education Materials with arts and
craft projects, worksheets, templates and other materials used to teach children and
attendees at her many teaching and speaking engagements. Articles and other printed matter
comprise Barbara's research interests which then informed her pedagogy. Her Personal Files
includes correspondence, invoices and payments which document her work with local schools,
museums, and cultural heritage organizations. Also included in Personal Files are personal
recipes and other items of interest to Barbara on a personal level.
The collection does not contain just Tongva history and customs, but material from other
American Indigenous tribes as well. While the bulk of the collection centers on Los Angeles,
the scope extends to Central America and all of North America. Within the Research Materials
are materials concerning art, music, ceremony, and performance; ecology; cosmology, history,
biography, and mythology; and tribe-specific content.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1: Education Material
- Series 2: Research Material
- Series 3: Personal Files
Folders are arranged alphabetically by folder title within each series.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library’s online public access catalog.
Animals
Drake, Barbara
Ecology
Gabrielino/Tongva Nation
Geography
Indigenous peoples
Medicinal plants
Native
Americans
Native
Americans
-Educators
Native
Americans
-History
Native
Americans
-Music
Native
Americans
-Study and teaching
Plants
Plants, Edible
Articles
Artifacts
Correspondence
Recipes
Teaching-Aids and devices