PROGRAM DETAILS:

Date Sunday, March 22, 2026
Time 11 AM-12 PM
Location NUMU | 106 E. Main Street, Los Gatos, CA, 95030
Cost Free with Admission

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Ben Cunningham-Summerfield (Mountain Maidu of Northern California and Turtle Mountain Chippewa of the Great Lakes Region) and his wife, Kimberly (Tsalagi [Cherokee] and culturally-adopted Mewuk), are indigenous educators and cultural demonstrators. They will be spending time with NUMU’s collections and curatorial team, delving into the indigenous belongings in the museum’s collection and educating staff about the materials, source communities, and significance of each piece.

On Sunday, March 22nd at 11 AM, the public will have the opportunity to hear and learn from Ben and Kimberly, who will be sharing more about themselves, their experiences, and the time spent with NUMU staff and collections, presenting belongings from the collection that are particularly interesting.

Ben Cunningham-Summerfield, Mountain Maidu graduated with his M.A. and B.S. from California State University, Chico. During the last twenty-three years, he has studied botany from several different perspectives to include rangeland management, native plants and their uses, management tools, particularly traditional uses of fire, and is a native cultural practitioner. As a National Park Ranger, he has worked in Natural Resources, Fire, and Interpretation Divisions. His passion for the environment is inherent from family endeavors and cultural background. He has provided programs for various Universities, Science Academies, International and National Conferences, State and National Parks, Museums, live Radio, Special interest groups, and organizations. Topics have included native uses of plants, demonstrations of uses of native plants, traditional California flute making and playing, intellectual properties, musical performances, storytelling, wildlife, geology, demonstration of Indigenous traditional skills, and teaching of courses related to the previously mentioned and much more.

Kimberly Cunningham-Summerfield, Tsalagi (Cherokee) and culturally adopted Mewuk, has been demonstrating and presenting programs since the 1970s. She is a cultural practitioner to include the skills of basket weaving, cordage making, food preparation, gathering, traditional uses of fire, traditional land management, tool making, and storytelling. Her audiences have been local, national, and international from a large variety of backgrounds and ages. While her greatest educational accomplishments have come from living life, she also has a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in American Indian Studies from CSU, Chico, and an Ed. M. in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has worked in both the private and government sectors of the workforce.

Together they have 61 plus years of storytelling and Traditional Ecological Knowledge experience that includes unique opportunities; with the Tasmanian Aboriginals gathered for the Indigenous Fire Management Conference in Hobart, Tasmania, the Oneida of Green Bay, Wisconsin, various Tribal Traditional gatherings across California, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, CSU Chico, live radio and local television stations, Educational forums, Conservancies, The Audubon Society and other organizations, Yosemite National Park and many, many campfires. Both reside and have worked in the High Sierras most of their lives.