Justin F. Farmer (1926–2021)

Justin Farmer is of Northern Diegueño heritage and is recognized by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) as a California “Mission Indian.” He was born in 1926, in a small farm house several miles from the town of Julian, San Diego County, in Southern California. Justin is a serious student, and an avid collector of Southern California “Mission Indian” baskets and artifacts. His serious basket collecting began in his middle-age years. It was his original hope that he could collect directly from the weaver. However he soon learned that by 1970 virtually no Indian weavers remained in all of Southern California. One of the very few was his cousin, Christina Osuna Berseford, on the Santa Ysabel reservation. Justin sat at the feet of the master, absorbing the techniques of creating baskets in the style of his Ipai (Northern Diegueño) linage. After 1970, Justin plunged into studies of Southern California basketry and culture.

Mr. Farmer has authored several short treaties on basket making, use of native plants in basketry, making acorn granaries, baby cradle boards of California, as well as assisting in two books by the Riverside Municipal Museum. He is also a former member of the Southwest Museum's Board of Trustees (now the Autry National Center.)