Rupert Costo

Rupert Costo (1906 – October 20, 1989) was a Cahuilla writer, activist, publisher, and philanthropist. He was a co-founder of the American Indian Historical Society (AIHS) and the Indian Historian Press publishing company. Costo had many careers and avocations throughout his life, including farmer, cattle rancher, surveyor, and mineralogist.

Native American advocacy Costo served as a member of the governing board of Cahuilla Reservation for more than 20 years

He co-founded the American Indian Historical Society in 1950,

University of California, Riverside advocacy Rupert Costo and his lifelong friend, Superior Court Judge John Gabbert, were key players in lobbying the University of California to establish a university in Riverside, California.

The Costo's extensive personal library documenting the Native American experience in the United States was donated to the University of California Riverside Libraries in May 1986. The Costo Chair in American Indian History at the University of California, Riverside, was named in his honor.

Publications Textbooks and the American Indian (1970) Indian Voices: the Native American Today (1974) Indian Treaties: Two Centuries of Dishonor (1977) A Thousand Years of American Indian Storytelling (1981)