Hote Casella Collection (Ms. Hote Casella)

Biographical/Historical Note

Hote’ Casella (1909-1990) was a Native American cultural ambassador, educator, and performer. The youngest of seven children, she was born Gladys Bland Mathonican in San Angelo, Texas on April 25, 1909 to (Andrew) John Mathonican (July 15, 1865-January 6, 1948) a billiards hall manager, and Marzella Carter (ca. 1868-May 20, 1937). Her father was a Cherokee, her mother of both Italian and Spanish ancestry. In the early 1920s, she moved with her parents and older sister to Los Angeles, California, where her father worked in the real estate business. She briefly lived in Hawaii in the early 1940s.

By 1946, she was living in New York on Park Avenue and was routinely performing throughout the United States and Europe. For nearly four decades, she traveled extensively, as newspaper articles found online provide a roadmap of her professional life. As a classically trained mezzo-soprano singer who studied at UCLA and Juilliard, her philosophy was to elevate Native American songs and stories to the level other folk songs and performances were enjoyed throughout the world.