Costo Chair of American Indian Affairs
California Indians helped found UCR and established its first
endowed academic chair, the Costo Chair. This Chair, of which
Joel Martin has the honor to be the first permanent holder,
was the first academic chair of any type in the nation endowed
directly by American Indians. It is named for Rupert Costo, a Cahuilla
man. He and his relatives, working in concert with Judge John
Gabbert, helped persuade state legislators to locate a new
branch of the University of California in Riverside County.
Rupert Costo [1906-1989] and Jeannette Henry Costo [1909-2001]
spent their adult lives advocating in behalf of American Indians.
They founded the Indian Historical Society, started the Indian
Historian Press, and published fifty books. They also
assembled one of the largest collections of research materials
relating to Native Americans in the nation, the Rupert Costo
Library of the American Indian. Stanford wanted this Library.
It is here at UCR.
UCR, the place where California Indian elders dance.
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| Mrs. Saubel (in front of stage)
dancing with the Cahuilla Birdsingers. |
Thanks to this unique legacy, UCR has long enjoyed a special
relationship with Indian country. It was no accident that
the first American Indian to receive a Chancellor’s
Medal was a Cahuilla elder and educator named Katherine Siva
Saubel or that the award was presented here at UCR by Acting
Chancellor David Warren. This recognition, the highest that
can be given by the UC system, incarnates the strong and unique
connection that this university has with California Indians.
The ceremony
took place last spring, involved a daylong symposium focused
on California Indian revitalization, a meal featuring traditional
powwow foods, and a play about Mrs. Saubel’s incredible
life. Toward the end of the day, while Cahuilla bird singers
sang, Mrs. Saubel stood and danced, the first time she has
done so in many years. That could serve as a good motto for
our program in American Indian Studies: UCR, the place
where California Indian elders dance.
This is the first installment in a series of articles by
Joel Martin, the Costo Chair of American Indian Affairs.
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