Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions is a unique and alluring history of the baby basket in Native Californian cultures. It includes full-color photographs of specially commissioned baskets from twenty of California’s tribes—from the heavily forested northwest to the deserts of the south—as well as historic photos, interviews with weavers, and details of how these sturdy and lovingly constructed baskets are created. Equally special, and gathered here for the first time, is a wealth of information on California’s indigenous childbirth and child-rearing traditions: beliefs and practices to ensure fertility, easy labor, and healthy babies, stabilize families, and introduce children to a world of order and harmony.