Display case, center, left: Beadwork: In the case are belts, necklaces, keychain ornament, head and arm bands, doll, moccasins, and beaded jars. The moccasins have been half-soled because they were used during World War II when everyone half-soled their shoes; these date to pre-1936. Most of the bead work and woven belts were made and donated by the Wyatt/Ramirez families.
Native Americans have traded beads for thousands of years and have become quite skilled at working with them. The beads of bone, wood, stone, or shell were used for decoration and for money (trading). The more polished the bead, the more valuable. Yokuts bead money and three types of measurement were used by various Yokuts tribes to denote one Chok, or unit of money. At the left is shown the measurement extending around the hand; at the center, extending from wrist to fingertips; at the right, around the hand forward of the thumb.