Discover the stories of the American Indians at the National Museum of the American Indian
Discover the stories of the American Indians at the National Museum of the American Indian
An overview of the National Museum of the American Indian, from the documentary Native Voice: Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
Great Museums Television (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: The noble savage, the bloodthirsty heathen—these are the distortions of history. Who were these Native Americans? And who are they?
RICK WEST: These were the people and these were the cultures who were here when Europeans first began to visit this country.
NARRATOR: And this is the museum where they tell their stories—the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
JOHN COLONGHI: This museum is—is opening the eyes of the public to this broader spectrum of the culture of Native people. There's 534 federally recognized tribes in this country alone.
MARY JANE LENZ: Our collections here range all the way from the Polar Eskimo, up near the Arctic Circle, all the way down to Tierra del Fuego.
GERALD McMASTER: We're, in fact, very diverse. We come from many, many cultures, many languages, and many geographies.
RICK WEST: We're talking about interpreting and representing living cultures and living peoples at the National Museum of the American Indian.
NARRATOR: And for Native people themselves this is no simple challenge.
TOM HILL: The moment we think that our culture was back in the past—back in that museum case—we're in for it.
JOE MEDICINE CROW: Indians out where I come from—the northern Plains area—they're not too comfortable going into a museum.
ABE CONKLIN: I want to get non-Indian peoples to have a better understanding of us, of our culture and our beliefs.
RICK WEST: The National Museum of the American Indian, in my view, is needed because Native history and culture and art and life is a part of the shared cultural heritage of all of us.
NARRATOR: At the museum, Native voices, ancient and contemporary, resonate through nearly one million objects, enriching the story of America.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: The noble savage, the bloodthirsty heathen—these are the distortions of history. Who were these Native Americans? And who are they?
RICK WEST: These were the people and these were the cultures who were here when Europeans first began to visit this country.
NARRATOR: And this is the museum where they tell their stories—the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
JOHN COLONGHI: This museum is—is opening the eyes of the public to this broader spectrum of the culture of Native people. There's 534 federally recognized tribes in this country alone.
MARY JANE LENZ: Our collections here range all the way from the Polar Eskimo, up near the Arctic Circle, all the way down to Tierra del Fuego.
GERALD McMASTER: We're, in fact, very diverse. We come from many, many cultures, many languages, and many geographies.
RICK WEST: We're talking about interpreting and representing living cultures and living peoples at the National Museum of the American Indian.
NARRATOR: And for Native people themselves this is no simple challenge.
TOM HILL: The moment we think that our culture was back in the past—back in that museum case—we're in for it.
JOE MEDICINE CROW: Indians out where I come from—the northern Plains area—they're not too comfortable going into a museum.
ABE CONKLIN: I want to get non-Indian peoples to have a better understanding of us, of our culture and our beliefs.
RICK WEST: The National Museum of the American Indian, in my view, is needed because Native history and culture and art and life is a part of the shared cultural heritage of all of us.
NARRATOR: At the museum, Native voices, ancient and contemporary, resonate through nearly one million objects, enriching the story of America.
[Music out]