The Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
New at the Museum! Kumeyaay Comics by the Kumeyaay Visual Storytelling Project is now on view. For the most updated information on parking in Balboa Park, please refer to the City of San Diego website.
Indigenous Literary Arts Series
Indigenous Stories & Voices
In celebration of the opening of the Kumeyaay Comics by the Kumeyaay Visual Storytelling Project exhibit in September 2026, this Indigenous Literary Arts Series highlights storytelling as a tool of self-expression and self-determination for Indigenous Peoples.
These publishers, authors, and literary works below represent communities from across California and the Southwest region of the United States.
Great Oak Press
In 2014, the Pechanga Band of Indians established the Greak Oak Press to support avenues for Native voices and topics importance into the contemporary discourse and become both a growing and permanent part of recorded knowledge.
As a publisher of scholarly and academic books, Pechanga’s Great Oak Press is dedicated to working with the leading and upcoming experts in a wide range of fields, ranging from the arts to the sciences and history. Great Oak Press is also committed to producing books of exceptional quality for children of all reading levels.
Learn more about Greak Oak Press and find authors, supplemental materials for readers and eductors, events and more.
The Froggy Library - Julie Fiveash
Inspired by Julie Fiveash's Diné background and career as a librarian, and infused throughout with the colors of the Southwest, The Froggy Library is a love letter to Native communities, summers with friends and family, and libraries everywhere.
Learn more about author and illustrator Julie Fiveash - including the new book they illustrated, We’ve Been Here The Whole Time! A Not So Sacred Guide To All Things Native America by Joey Clift.
Soldiers Unknown - Chag Lowry
The Klamath River, 1918. The native Yurok people of Northern California have been untouched by the savage world war raging in Europe–until now. Three cousins are called to serve a nation that has given little but cruelty to their people. Thrust into battle on the Western Front, these young men struggle to preserve their humanity while facing the unspeakable horrors of the greatest military conflict ever known.
Chag Lowry, M.Ed is of Yurok, Maidu, and Pit River ancestry from northern California. He authored the award-winning World War One graphic novel Soldiers Unknown, published by the Great Oak Press. This book conveys the American World War One story through the experiences of three Yurok soldiers. Soldiers Unknown is endorsed by the World War One Centennial Commission, the Yurok Tribe, and the American Indian Veterans Association of Southern California, and is an American Indian Library Association 2022 Honor Book.
Maay Uuyow - Michael Connolly Miskwish
Kumeyaay cosmology was traditionally intertwined with ceremonies, harvest & hunts, burning schedules and the acquisition of spiritual power. Personal conduct was subject to cosmological constraints and rewards. Cosmology was so important that Spanish priests and subsequent U.S. government agents worked hard to repress and expunge the beliefs from Kumeyaay society. This monograph provides a partial glimpse of the Kumeyaay cosmology with worldview, observatories, constellations and stories. Includes modern interpretations of the calendar.
The Kumeyaay Cosmology exhibit that opened in 2015 at the Museum of Us was developed by curator and Kumeyaay scholar, Michael Connolly Miskwish, and Mat'taam Naka Shin, the San Diego-Panama Exposition Centennial Intertribal Committee.
This book by historian and co-creator of this exhibit, Michael Connolly Miskwish, can be purchased in the Museum of Us lobby or online from Sunbelt Publications.
San Diego Seafood Then & Now
San Diego Seafood Then & Now features recipes that reflect Kumeyaay foodways, drawing on local ingredients and knowledge passed down through generations and carried on today by home chefs
San Diego Seafood: Then & Now blends local history and cuisine to celebrate the region’s rich maritime heritage and culinary diversity. More than a cookbook, this volume features colorful stories from past and present, stunning visuals, and helpful tips on buying, storing and preparing seafood, in addition to over 75 recipes that showcase local catch.
Starting with the original stewardship of the Kumeyaay and their ancestors, the book takes us on a journey through the Spanish colonial period, highlighting the lasting influences of Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, and Mexican fishing communities, and bringing us into today’s thriving multicultural fishing and seafood scene. Thousands of years of connection to coastal resources are captured in this one volume.
This book can be purchased in the Museum of Us lobby or online from Sunbelt Publications.
The Museum of Us recognizes that it sits on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Kumeyaay Nation. The Museum extends its respect and gratitude to the Kumeyaay peoples who have lived here for millennia.
The Museum is open daily, Monday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
1350 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101
