First peoples get first museum

Travel America, March-April, 2005 by Darlene P. Copp

THE LAST PARCEL OF PRIME real estate on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., has been developed. And it's about time. Not to round out the distinguished family of Smithsonian institutions that already lined the greenspace, but because the newcomer is the first national museum in the country devoted exclusively to Native Americans.

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) opened on September 21, 2004, with a morning procession of more than 25,000 Native Americans in traditional attire. President George H. W. Bush penned legislation for its creation in late 1989 after 10 years of lobbying by supporters such as Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and David Rockefeller of New York.

What makes NMAI unique among its counterparts is the process that produced its triumphal entry into the capital. The long-anticipated museum sought input from Native Americans in every phase of its development, and tribal communities across the country were major donors. Foundations, corporations, and individuals of every ilk also contributed to the $199 million amassed for building costs and an additional $20 million for exhibits and programs.

As fate would have it, this remarkable effort all began with one white man in 1896. That was the year George Gustav Heye acquired a Navajo deerskin shirt and began collecting tribal objects from across the Americas, ending up with more than 800,000! His New York City home for the massive collection became the Museum of the American Indian. It is Heye's legacy that laid the groundwork for today's NMAI, which includes an exhibition facility in Lower Manhattan that opened in 1994 (the George Gustav Heye Center) and the Cultural Reception Center (for storage, research, and conservation) in Suitland, Maryland, opened in 1999. In fact, only 8,000 objects in NMAI's vast collection are featured in inaugural exhibits.

Bearing no resemblance to its sister museums on the Mall, NMAI's undulating buff-colored, rough-hewn limestone facade evokes images of the Southwest (its overhangs inspired by prehistoric cliff dwellings) and has a deliberately sculptural feel, as if carved by wind and water over eons. Design features such as an east-lacing entrance and round interior spaces evolved from extensive collaboration with tribal participants included on the architectural and construction teams.

Since Native Americans are so in tune with their environments, the landscaping received the same meticulous planning. Besides representations of four indigenous habitats--hardwoods, wetlands, meadowlands, and croplands--40 boulders, called grandfather rocks, were incorporated.

Located east of the National Air and Space Museum and facing the U.S. Capitol, the curvilinear monument to Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere tells their stories in their own voices. Visitors first hear them when greeted by 150 Native languages emanating from a welcome wall, an electronic photo-montage conveying the diversity of Native peoples. That message continues in a 120-seat circular theater during a 13-minute multi-media orientation called "Who We Are." Three major exhibitions, a temporary art gallery, and works of art on display throughout the building--including a 20-foot totem pole by a Tlingit carver--flesh out the specifics of life for Native Americans.

Museum-goers experience the permanent exhibits--both their content and appearance--totally through the Native perspective. Curators worked closely with 24 Native communities to select the stories to tell and the objects to display. "Our Universes" delves into their traditional knowledge as organized around one solar year, focusing on many of their ceremonies and celebrations. "Our Peoples" presents their histories, including how they have struggled to maintain their traditions. "Our Lives" explores their identities in the 21st century and how they continue to exist as distinct communities.

During the museum's first year, Native boats are under construction in the Potomac, a rotunda that rises 120 feet to a skylight. Native-inspired foods fill the menu of the ground-floor care, which had a fire pit specially installed for items like cedar-planked salmon. Likewise, the two museum stores showcase every manner of traditional and contemporary Native art, including jewelry, textiles, and pottery.

Founding Director W. Richard West, Jr. (Southern Cheyenne) sums up NMAI's goal: "Visitors will leave this museum experience knowing that Indians are not (just) part of history. We are still here and making vital contributions to contemporary American culture and art."

Contact: National Museum of the American Indian, a Smithsonian Institution, (202) 633-9884 or www.amer icanindian.si.edu.